


Be Not Echoes

by Isabelle_Jennings



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Martian Manhunter (Comics), New Gods (Comics), Superman (Comics), Worlds' Finist (Comics)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-04-20
Packaged: 2018-01-07 03:06:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 74,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1114743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isabelle_Jennings/pseuds/Isabelle_Jennings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lois Lane, one of the only people in the world that J'onn J'onzz, The Martian Manhunter, considers a close friend, is missing, and he wants to find her. Nothing else has worked, so he's decided to use his Martian shape-shifting ability to go under cover as Lois to see if he can get whoever it was that took her to tip their hand that way. What happens though, when he, as Lois, meets a dashing reporter by the name of Clark Kent and they begin to fall in love?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lois Lane is Missing

**Author's Note:**

> **Rape/Non-Con warning:** This mostly refers to one of the villains in the story, D'kay D'ranzz. D'kay, she's basically a Martian serial killer who rapes and kills humans of both genders (this isn't overly graphically described). The warning also refers, to a lesser but still significant degree, to another of the story's villains: Artemiz of the Female Furies, who can get inside a woman's head and do a sort of very intense and overwhelming seduction that's not at all easy to resist.
> 
>  **About the real Lois Lane:** She's not dead, but you'll have to wait a while to find out where she went.
> 
>  **About Cat Grant:** So you know, I'm writing Cat's character as the (in my opinion, so much more awesome) 1990's version of her from the Superman books back then, not the inexplicably very different version of her that appeared in the pre-Flashpoint Supergirl books. My version of Cat is, however, also quite a bit like the New 52 version of her.
> 
>  **Superman/Batman sex scene:** Because this is a really popular pairing, I thought I'd let anyone who might want to know that they end up in bed together at the start of [Part 12](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1114743/chapters/3151711) (though not before Clark gives Bruce oral sex on the balcony beforehand of course).

LOST AND FOUND

BOOK 1: BE NOT ECHOES

PART 1: LOIS LANE IS MISSING

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- J'ONN ---

Lois Lane had been missing for more than a month now. The news story had died down, The Daily Planet, Lois's paper, were the only ones besides him still keeping hope alive, running a small page two missing persons ad every day, offering a reward for any information. He'd looked for her using methods beyond the capabilities of anyone on the planet, and he hadn't found a trace. All his training and abilities seemed to amount to nothing where this was concerned. It was a blow to his self-confidence almost as much as it was to his soul. J'onn J'onzz had very few true friends on this world, who knew him for who and what he really was: A manhunter from Mars, the last of his people escaped to Earth after a plague of fire wiped out the rest of his people. Lois had known though, she was what the humans called his 'best friend'. More than that perhaps, it was hard to define for him. Humans were so very different. He'd been on this world for more than a hundred years and he still wasn't completely used to their ways, or completely comfortable around them. Lois had been an exception to that, she'd even put her life on the line to save him the first time they'd met. As fragile as humans were compared to his kind, that courage had deeply impressed him. Even charmed him. They'd made love once. He in the form of a female, as Lois, like many humans, was attracted to her own gender rather than the opposite one. The whole concept of human love making had just seemed so odd to him, actually. She had wanted to join minds even. The whole experience, while not as unfulfilling as he'd feared, had left him feeling unsettled somehow though and he'd retreated. He had held back during their love making too, hadn't actually shared with Lois all that he was as she had with him. Now, he couldn't help regret his actions. Perhaps if he'd not let his fear and grief get the better of him so, he would have been with her when whatever happened to her took place, perhaps he'd have been able to help her.

With what he was doing now, he hoped to make up for that. J'onn stood in front of the mirror in Lois Lane's apartment and inspected himself, or, rather, inspected herself, carefully. He'd changed his body to match Lois's form, down to the DNA level as much as was possible for him, it would take very close testing to show him for the counterfeit he was. He, or rather she (as she was actually truly female as she was now, her race could change genders as they willed), wasn't even taking a chance on making clothes from her own bio-mass, she was using Lois's clothing, even her perfume. Whomever took Lois could have who knew what sort of capabilities, that required as much careful attention to detail and caution as she could manage.

She ran her hands over her body, closing her eyes and adjusting tiny little things within herself, trying to make sure even the feel of her skin matched Lois's exactly. She sighed and smiled to herself. "Alright Lane, get your head in the game. Time to get this show on the road." She touched her hair just the way Lois did and had to wonder a little at the affect. She reached out and touched the mirror, tracing a pattern. "It's like you're right there, but you're not." She told the reflection wistfully. She had a lot of Lois inside her, it wasn't hard at all to talk like she talked, move like she moved, even that certain sparkle in her eyes when she smiled, she could do that too, all it took was to flip a particular mental 'switch' inside her mind and it became second nature for her. They'd made love, Lois had showed her all of that. Her memories? She had them. Also many of her feelings and emotions. She wasn't just like Lois, but she could act close enough to convince anyone but, perhaps, a lover who'd known her very, very well, and Lois hadn't had one of those when she'd been taken.

She went and started to get dressed. An hour and a cab ride later, she was getting off the elevator and walking into the news room at the Daily Planet. She'd gotten lots of looks, people recognizing her on the way in. Jimmy Olson, the photographer Lois most often worked with, had rode up on the elevator with her.

"Lois Lane!" A voice barked as she walked off the elevator. "Tell me I'm not seeing a ghost!" It was Perry White, the Planet's editor-in-chief. Also one of Lois's circle of friends.

"Perry!" She went over and hugged him. "So good to see you again."

"Lois, thank God." A tearing up Cat Grant gave her a hug and kissed her full on the lips. Smiling. "For old time sakes." She explained with a weak smile. She was married, to a man, now, but she and Lois had had a one night stand once and they'd been friends since.

"Wow, remind me to get lost in the Russian tundra more often." She smiled, gently wiping away Cat's tears.

"He-hem." Perry cleared his throat. Lots of others had gathered round.

"I think the chief's not so big on the PDA, Lois." Jimmy provided.

"Mind your own business, Olsen." Perry reproached him. "Now, what's this about the Russian wilds?"

She told them the story of how she'd been on the trail of a local human trafficking/prostitution ring and ended up hiding in a truck that took her to a plane that took her to Russia. She gave Perry a folder with her notes and a SD card with pictures on it. J'onn had dug this up and put a stop to it himself on the down low a week ago, he'd also discovered ties to parts of the Russian government and a certain U.S. senator that would make for a knock-out story sure to have Perry on cloud 9, as the Earth saying went.

She spent the rest of the day getting acquainted, or supposedly reacquainted, with everyone Lois had known at The Planet. She also passively felt with her telepathy for anyone who reacted in a suspicious way to ‘Lois Lane's triumphant return'. That was the point of this after all. If he couldn't seek out those who'd taken Lois, he'd figured he'd take her place and see if her return stirred anything up. Made anyone worry. If a manhunter could not hunt his prey, it behooved him to arrange things so that his prey would be more likely to come to him.

Later that evening, J'onn, or Lois, found herself at a bar drinking club soda and flirting with Cat Grant. Lois had done most of the talking, Cat peppering her with questions, until Lois/J'onn finally asked. "Cat, is everything okay? I mean really? That kiss before, it seemed like more than..." She trailed off, having gotten a sense for this from the other woman's surface emotions, and not wanting to intrude on her mind unasked, having guessed it was most probably to do with her marriage.

"It's Ron, Lois, we've... I'm pretty sure we're getting a divorce. It's been getting worse for a while now. And, well, since you've been gone, to be honest, I've, um, sort of been missing you... Like in, um, more than just in a friends way?" She admitted.

Lois smiled softly to her and laid her hand and over Cat's. She was almost completely sure what Lois would do in this situation, so she did the same thing. "I see... Cat, would you like to come with me back to my place? For the night?" She asked. The real Lois had actually been carrying something of a torch for this woman for quite a while, secretly hoping something like this would happen and she'd get another chance with her.

Cat just looked into her eyes a moment then smiled a little crookedly with some embarrassment in her expression. "God yes." She admitted, finishing the last of her pina colada and getting up. Lois got up too, and wrapped her arms around the other woman as Cat kissed her. "Mmmm... I'm so glad you're back." She told in a heart-felt voice.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way," Lois said, brushing her hand through Cat's hair flirtatiously. "But I'm kind of so glad your marriage is in trouble." She smiled.

Cat smiled back shyly, swallowing a biting her lip a little. "Why don't men know to say things like that...?" She asked softly.

"I'm sure some do." Lois replied. "I think it's just a matter that your, I mean, for humanity in general, it's easier for a woman to... connect... with another woman. Or a man for a man. For a bunch of reasons. There's just... less of a divide there." She had observed this phenomenon and knew it had different affects from person to person. Some among humanity actually preferred distance in a relationship, while some could bridge the gap, and for still others the gap wasn't always so far, it simply depended.

"Mm, yeah, I guess I can see that." Cat admitted. "Can we go now?" She asked. "I... I really want to take that suit off of you." She admitted in a whisper. Cat was kind of buzzed, not really all the way drunk, just her inhibitions were lowered.

"I think that can be arranged." Lois agreed. "I haven't been with a woman since a week before I left the city, and... I've always kind of regretted it didn't work out between us, if I'm being honest." She told, leading Cat by the hand out the door.

"Me too..." Cat admitted softly, smiling as they exited the club.

"Taxi!" Lois called, then looked over to Cat and smiled.

When they got to Lois's apartment, J'onn was feeling kind of, well, afraid really. Her emotions were kind of all over the place actually, so she decided to throw herself into being Lois and not think about anything else. She opened the door for her guest and once Cat was inside, she closed the door and leaned against it smiling. "So, didn't you say something about wanting to take my clothes off before?" She stopped leaning and advanced on Cat a few steps. "You can now. If you still want to." She told her, keeping eye contact. She remembered the way Lois had been with her when making love and felt kind of a guilty thrill being on the other side of the equation actually. She, he, still remembered his lost wife of Mars very vividly, and had to consciously will him/herself not to think of her now. Cat was a beautiful person, she reminded J'onn of Lois herself a little, and she deserved a lover who was only there with her, not... not with a ghost.

Cat smiled a little of a shaky smile and walked closer to her, taking off her own shoes as she did. "You know just what to say to me..." Cat complemented her.

"It's easy when we want the same thing..." Lois replied, knowing that wasn't true much of the time, but thinking it just might kind of be this time.

Cat took off Lois's jacket, then started unbuttoning her silk shirt, Lois just looked at her hungrily and touched her occasionally as she was being unclothed, Cat leading her to the bedroom. Lois sat down on the edge of the bed in just her panties and a bra. Cat moved to take the bra off, but Lois stopped her. "First I want to see more of you too. Strip for me a little?" She asked with a hopeful kind of lusty wicked smile that also conveyed warmth and wanting.

"Um, yeah, okay..." Cat smiled, starting to take her clothes off in front of the other woman.

Lois just sat, elbows on her knees, chin on the heels of her palms, a speculative mood coming over her as her interest was completely absorbed in watching Cat remove her clothes. Done, Cat stepped over to her and cupped Lois's head in her palms, guiding her head up so their eyes met again. Cat was completely naked now, and Lois/J'onn felt her own body hotly responding as it had when she'd been with Lois as a female before, more so even as she'd made the changes so deeply and completely, and she was so invested in her role that she imagined she was feeling emotions very similar to what the real Lois would feel. Cat moved her back a little and straddled her, sitting on her lap and beginning to kiss her. Lois brought her hands to the other woman's body and kissed her back without restraint. It felt so good and so right to her, it was freeing somehow, to be so much someone else, to just let the massive and all-pervasive trauma in his/her past just fade away. 

She felt her body being laid back on the bed, Cat fumbling a little to get Lois's bra off. "Fuck..." Cat breathed, biting her lip and getting up to strip Lois of her panties as well, making Lois smile, before getting back on top of her and capturing her lips again in a hungry, claiming kiss.

Lois groaned a little at the forward, aggressive mood, finding her libido further inflamed by it. She rolled Cat onto her back and got off her to go to the center of the bed so her legs weren't dangling anymore, she beckoned Cat to follow her, Cat did, claiming her lips again in a fierce kiss that landed Lois on her back again. "Just let me be in charge first, okay? Please?" Cat asked softly.

Lois smiled. "I'm yours, have your way with me..." Lois whispered in her new lover's ear. She felt Cat shiver just a little against her and saw her eyes light up a little and a hidden smile ghost across her face. That was one thing she hadn't noticed so much before, how not allowing yourself to read your lover's thoughts, emotions, self, made you pay attention so much more in an attempt to compensate. To learn what wasn't there to plainly see without effort.

Cat kissed her again, pressed her body down on her, sliding her body against her, causing her skin to react in ways that were new to her, her body felt heated and she moaned as Cat started kissing her neck, her hand sliding down between them to touch between her legs to her sex. The fingers slid inside and found Lois warm and welcoming, Lois arched her back and held onto Cat. Sliding against one another in a very sensuous, if a little rushed, way. Lois/J'onn felt something in the background calling to her, something in Cat wanted her to know it was there, it was magnetic and powerful, a resonance that scared her a little. She clamped down on the urge though, with all the force of her will, telling her telepathic senses to stay silent. Soon she was crying out her release and thought was surprisingly absent. She felt blissful in fact as Cat snuggled close and held her. Lois held her back and smiled up at the ceiling, just feeling happy. It was a strange feeling, but she decided she was just going to let it settle in. She moved and started lazily making out with Cat, rolling them over so they were both on their sides, Cat replying with soft sounds of encouragement and pleasure. "Tell me what you want..." She whispered.

Cat told her and Lois complied. They spent the next long while exploring one another, mapping the ways to bring one another pleasure and increased intimacy, friendship, the first sparks of what could be love if they both were to choose that path. And so it was that Lois found herself on her back again, Cat's lips on her tit, her left hand on the other breast, her right playing her sex just so. She could hardly think rationally anymore, things were leaking through under the surface, a part of her far off realized it but couldn't figure out how to act on that knowledge to override the part of her that had become Lois and didn't even really recognize the warning in time, when that thing, that magnetic pull just clicked and she reached orgasm and she was opened up, all of her, and all of Cat too, their minds, memories, souls even, mixing together, giving, just flowing freely, no restraint. It was a complete imprinting, the kind that took place normally during love making for a Martian. More completely even than she had shared with Lois. There, she'd taken in all of Lois, but shielded Lois from her own most broken, ravaged places, not having wanted to inflict that on another person. But something, that something she had tried to keep away, had just unlocked that something inside her. That resonance. She knew now completely what it was: The loss of a child. There was no other feeling like it. It was a wound that simply went to the core of a person and never went away, left you forever changed. And the hurt inside of her from that, it just couldn't stand to let another person suffer that same hurt alone when it was in her power to offer comfort.

The connection between them was bright, unreasoning, blindly feeling. Just joys and sorrows, all life's experiences, shared without censor or judgments. Intimacy, almost as much as two people could have. But the light or sharing/joining did not last, and the next thing Lois really knew, she was holding a sobbing Cat to her and she was staring blankly up at the ceiling, tears running mutely down her cheeks, her mind trying and failing to find peace and a sense of self again. This had hit her hard, in a place she had been very unprepared to be hit, she felt more than a little shattered. So she just held the crying woman in her arms and waited for enough time to pass to where she would feel able enough to put herself back together into some semblance of a whole person again.

An indeterminate period of time later, she realized Cat was wiping her tears away. She looked into her eyes and saw a soft, trembling smile, and she reached up wordlessly to wipe the other woman's tears away as well, shyly returning the smile. "I'm so sorry..." Was all she could think to say.

"Shh, it's... it's okay... I know it, it wasn't your fault. You were, you were just trying to help Lois, she was your only friend, of course you would... and... we just... we both lost the same thing, you... much more than me... ~results will occur even without choice's blessing~" She spoke the last in Martian language.

J'onn/Lois took a second to realize she'd heard that right. It had been so long since she'd heard her birth language spoken aloud from any lips but her own. She smiled a little at that. "Thank you for that." She told.

"I know... everything... absolutely everything about you, don't I? Such a long life... you aren't even a woman, or, you hadn't... chosen to be, not since you were young, not until now? I'm... it's not even the same thing for you is it, genders?" She asked. "You can choose whenever you want, and..." She shook her head. "You've been alive over eleven hundred years... All these memories, like they're mine now too..." She got up and held herself, rocking a little. "How do I make sense of all this... It's... so much... and Lois, I remember her memories too, and your wife's, M'Yri'ah, I remember for her too... I'm Cat, I'm Cat Grant though. How... how do I... remember who I am...?" Starting to cry as J'onn could sense a powerful wave of sadness, sadness that wasn't supposed to be hers to bear, start to come over her.

Lois brought her hand to Cat's cheek. "Look into my eyes..." She told her softly. Cat did, with a shaky but whole-hearted trust. Lois gently entered her mind and, piece by piece, started to put things in order. Put structures in place to deal with the grief and sadness, so she could function. She would need to maintain them, deal with them for herself, but she had all of J'onn's long experience to help her, and she had her own strength of character too. "Do you sense what I'm doing?" She asked softly.

"I... yes... I remember this... I can, I know this, don't I? I know..." She trialed off.

"Everything I know, yes." Lois smiled a little shakily. "I can take it away for you, close the new memories off, blunt them perhaps?" She offered.

"But you can't for your own, can you? That's not how it works... No, I... I don't want you to change a thing. I'll... I'll be fine. And I don't think..." She looked at her, met her eyes and Lois/J'onn knew pretty much exactly what thoughts were going on behind those eyes, even without looking for herself. "I don't want not to know you, J'onn." She touched her face softly, almost reverently. "I'm, I'm not sure if I, you're not Lois, and this is so much, I don't think I..."

"It's all right." Lois smiled. "I know we won't be lovers again, not anytime soon at least. I know you just as well as you know me now, remember?"

"Yeah... but I still, I'd hate it if we weren't friends... I think, I could really use that in my life. Someone... who really knew me, just for me..." She looked down. "I wish I were as strong as you... Maybe, maybe some of your strength will rub off on me, now that I remember for you... Your entire race, your family, your... your daughter..."

"Your son..." Lois echoed, touching her face, tilting her chin up gently so their eyes met. Cat was crying again. "A drunk driver. Charlie James Markus. That was the name of the man who..." She looked away, anger flooding through her. "You wish you could kill him, I think I... I think I might wish that too. Only, in my case..."

"It would be easy. No one... you could kill him and..." Cat spoke.

"And no one would ever know. Yes, I could..." Lois admitted.

"But... you won't, will you?" Cat finished.

Lois looked up to her eyes. "If you asked me, I... I would if you asked me to. I think, I know... I would break my vow for that." She admitted. "To give you peace."

Cat smiled. "You would, wouldn't you?" She realized. "Thank you." She held Lois's hand to her own heart, moved over and kissed her.

They both closed their eyes and let the kiss play out. Cat reached out and touched Lois's thigh, Lois touched Cat's shoulder, but then, as if by mutual consent, they pulled away, and smiled softly to one another.

"I still want to stay over tonight." Cat told her.

"Of course." Lois, touched her shoulders.

"I think I need to divorce my husband..." Cat spoke.

Lois considered that. "~What time has passed, can never come again~" Lois said in Martian.

Cat smiled. "~What you say us true~"

They talked a good time longer, until past one in the morning, and then Lois set an alarm and they fell asleep together in each other's arms.

\--- CAT ---

It was three weeks later now, and Cat had divorced her husband, Ron Troupe, also a reporter at the Daily Planet, and she and Lois/J'onn were roommates now, and best friends as well. The divorce had been hard, and Ron hadn't wanted to agree to it at first, but in the end he'd signed the papers and wished her well. Told her he'd always be there for her if she needed him.

It was a desperately needed new start for her though. As much as she cared for her ex-husband, she just couldn't live with him anymore. He was sad all the time about their son's death; she had been that way too, and still was somewhere inside, but she knew she couldn't stay in such sadness, not and survive it. She had to make a change and move on somehow. J'onn had been just what she'd needed as it had turned out. All the memories and experiences she'd gotten from her, she was still learning to deal with them all, but the whole experience had had a definitely positive net effect on her. And having a friend like her to reply on was such a good thing for her.

J'onn, or Lois... she really was so completely like Lois, wasn't she? And the weird thing was, Cat knew she could do the same thing if she wanted, at least as far as her mind went, if she practiced it enough. She was human, so her mind didn't work like a Martians, but she knew so much about how minds in general worked, that she knew she could make it work for her too. She could give herself Lois's personality and memories and act just like her, or like J'onn... or M'Yri'ah for that matter... it was still hard to think of M'Yri'ah, or... K'Hym... without tearing up. In any case, Lois, J'onn, M'Yri'ah, she knew she could become like them in her mind if she wanted, or take parts of their personalities and sort of mix them in with her own, but she didn't want to do that, be someone other than who she was. It seemed to really suite J'onn though, she could tell.

The same way her divorce and becoming J'onn/Lois's roommate had been a new start for her, she could tell being Lois was very much the same kind of new start for her. And, in a kind of odd way, that's how she'd come to think of her too, as Lois. Not the same Lois she'd known before, the one who was still missing and whom J'onn was still holding out hope of finding, but as Lois none the less. Just, a different one.

And it was amazing how close they'd become. Amazing how... completely secure and at ease you could feel around someone when you knew everything, absolutely everything, about them. Since their first night together they hadn't been intimate with one another, Lois had been right in thinking it wouldn't happen between them again. For her, it was just... too much, the idea of being with someone like that. So completely. Lois had been right about that too, she just needed more distance in a relationship than that. A part of her wished that wasn't true, but she knew it was none the less.

Lois, for her part, had completely respected that choice and they'd just been friends, best friends, ever since. Though, she could tell, if she said she wanted it, Lois would be with her that way. And that was kind of a nice feeling too. Very flattering in fact. That someone knew her so completely and still cared for her that much.

For Lois's part though, she'd been out with a string of other women for one or two night stands on a fairly regular basis since a few nights after what had happened between them. In other words, she was acting just like Lois would act. For her own part, Cat had gone out on a few dates too since then, just trying to see if anything sparked for her. It was hard for her, but she knew she wanted it. Wanted to meet someone. And knew she wanted it to be a woman. That just felt right for her now. The truth was, it's what she'd wanted in her heart form the start, with Lois, the real one. But things had gotten too intense between them and she'd ran. Right for Ron Troupe. That emotional distance thing. Things had been good between her and Ron during their marriage. They'd both given each other the space they'd needed. Ron had been a lot like her in that regard, kind of a private person who didn't open himself up that easily. When they'd had a son, when they'd had Casey, things had still been good. Cat had felt less... lonely, perhaps. Like she had more of a purpose at least. It had all crashed and burned badly of course when their Casey had been killed by that drunk driver. Now... now she was through hiding who she was, or playing it so safe. She wanted to find someone new and fall in love again. And this time, when she found her, she swore, she wasn't going to run away. 

Lately, in addition to her society column, she'd been doing more and more human interest pieces. Mostly ones that had to do with children's issues. This one though, was on the East Metropolis City University campus. There had been a number of deaths, two instances of rape, and a few injuries at a college sorority party last night. During a party and after. The students had all been drinking, and many of the students' parents were in an uproar over it. Rightfully so, to Cat's mind. Researching it though, Cat had found that the school didn't have a history of this kind of thing, a little under the typical rates as a matter of fact. In the last year though, things had just seemed to go from bad to worse.

She went to interview one of the college professors, one who was trying to get reforms implemented. The school was pushing the line of hiring more campus security and setting a curfew to handle it, Professor Lemaris and some others wanted to bring in councilors and to do research studies for the best ways to deal with what was going on.

"Truthfully, I really don't know what's going on." Lori told her as they sat down in her office to talk. "This is my second year teaching here. My first year here, everything was perfect... Well, not perfect, but normal, relatively peaceful. This year though, it's... like we've been cursed." She looked down at her hands, obviously feeling saddened by the recent events.

"I've looked into it, and you're definitely right about that." Cat told her. "The year so far, there have been twenty-two deaths, students, faculty, and staff. The record previously for this school, for an entire school year, is seven."

"...I knew it was bad, but..." Lori shook her head. "I wonder if we really are cursed." She looked... kind of guilty saying that, actually. Like, maybe, somehow, it might all be her fault. Cat had a very hard time believing that could be true though.

In fact, after their interview was done, Cat asked Lori out on a date later that evening. Lori had been surprised, but had accepted the invitation, giving her a kind of charmed yet shy smile. The interest was mutual apparently, Cat considered as she left. She had a lot more to look into for her story, and they'd made arrangements to meet later.

Later that evening, Cat picked Lori up in the university parking lot to go on their date. They drove to a sea-food restaurant that Lori liked, located on a cliff overlooking the ocean.

The went in and the waiter seated them immediately, leaving them with water and menus at their table by the window. The restaurant had a balcony outside, but it was fiercely windy today and not that warm out here either, so it was closed for the day.

Lori was gazing out the window at the ocean beyond. The sky was cloudy and the view went on out into the horizon. "It's so beautiful, don't you think?" She asked. "The ocean?"

"I hadn't noticed." Cat told her honestly. She hadn't really been paying attention to the water, she'd been caught up in gazing at her date. She'd changed into a silver dress with shoulder-straps and had been wearing that and a coat when Cat had picked her up for their date. At what point during the day she'd been able to find time to go home and get the dress, Cat didn't know, but she was charmed by the effort, and, now that Lori had taken off her coat, was charmed by the dress and the woman in the dress even more.

Lori turned and smiled to her. "Thanks." She spoke, a little shyly. "I've um, I haven't done this in a while. Gone out on a date, I mean."

Cat caught Lori looking at her chest a little before returning her gaze to her eyes. She herself was wearing slacks and a sleeveless blouse. She'd unbuttoned a few of the buttons to show off some of her own attractive attributes of course. "And... you usually date women? Or..."

Lori shook her head. "I'm bi-sexual. That's... not going to be problem, is it?" She asked, suddenly a little weary.

Cat shook her head. "No. In fact, I suppose we have that in common... or we would have at one point. Since my divorce, I've only dated women." She told her honestly.

"A bad experience with a man?" Lori asked, shaking her head. "I can certainly relate."

"No, nothing like that..." Cat assured her. "It was..." It was her turn to shake her head. "A story for another time. What about you though, this bad experience...? We can...?"

Lori shook her head and smiled. "Like you said, a story for another time."

Cat smiled back a little. Somehow caught in Lori's eyes just then. "So, um, have you always wanted to be a college professor?" Cat asked. Maybe it wasn't the best segue into friendly conversational waters she'd ever come up with but she hoped it would do.

The conversation went well from that point, and they stayed late and had dissert. When the date was over, Cat drove Lori home and they kissed goodnight, making plans to get together for lunch the next day on-campus.

\--- J'ONN ---

It was some months later Cat had divorced her husband, Ron Troupe, also a reporter at the Daily Planet, and she and Cat were roommates now, and best friends as well. Cat was dating someone steady, a woman named Lori Lemaris, who she'd met investigating some strange goings on at the college campus where Lori worked as a professor, teaching sociology and mythology courses. Lois/J'onn had helped clear that up and the three had become fast friends. Lori had actually turned out to be a mermaid, much to Cat's surprise (as most people didn't think mermaids really existed). She had left her people to get away from an abusive former lover. Lori knew Lois's secret by now too, that she was really a Martian, and about the real Lois being missing. For herself, J'onn/Lois had kept up dating women on and off, but it never seemed to go past three or four dates at most.

She hadn't had any more accidents like what happened with Cat, but she also hadn't been able to really connect with any of the women she'd dated either. Which was just as well, the real Lois was also known for being obsessed with her work and not especially prone to commitment in her personal life. There was one instance, when Lois had been on a story about Intergang, a continual focus for her since she suspected they might have had something to do with the real Lois going missing, if only from their history together. She found and rescued a woman, Joan Dale, Miss America, who they had in stasis and were using as a power source. She fought a goddess named Lashina from Apokolips, and with Joan's help, defeated her. Lashina retreated back to wherever it was she came from. Joan hugged her in thanks and kissed her on the cheek. She was straight apparently, which was a shame, Lois thought, because she had definitely had what would be called a crush on her. Felt a connection somehow. Maybe just because she'd been a woman who'd lost her world too, or, at least her time. She'd been a little tempted to reveal her secret and become a man again, if only for the chance to see what could come between them. But her commitment to finding Lois overrode that impulse.

J'onn was getting more and more comfortable being Lois though, more so it actually started to feel more genuinely like the real her. She started to identify as female much more deeply too. It was so easy and so tempting just to be someone else, to change her gender even, it made her feel like she had a real chance of having a complete life again, not just echoes of her loss. That's how she'd been feeling all these years on Earth she'd come to realize, like she was an echo, of her people, the last of them sounding out to those nearby so they wouldn't be forgotten completely.

As it so happened though, today was the day she'd meet another of those echoes. She was at work, she'd noticed a man from across the room, he'd drawn her attention momentarily, but she'd been hard at work writing a story and had gone back to it.

"Lois! Get in here!" Perry, her editor, called from out of his office not much later.

"Be right there chief!" She called, rushing to finish writing the paragraph she was on.

"Now, Lane, I don't got all day!" Perry called back.

Lois grumbled to herself and typed a few last words before getting up and hurrying to the chief's office.

"Lois, I have someone I want you to meet. Real world traveler this one." He introduced from standing behind his desk, a gorgeous view of the city at his back. "Lois, this is Clark Kent. From Smallville, Kansas originally, if I understand. Brilliant writer."

Clark adjusted his glasses and extended his hand to her. "Pleased to meet you, I hope we'll be good friends." He smiled a little awkwardly to her.

Lois took his hand and looked him over. He was really well built, and, under the glasses, strikingly handsome too. The way he was acting, that was obviously a pretense of some sort. She looked a little into his mind and was surprised to meet a veritable blur of thoughts moving faster and in more directions than she could remember ever seeing, even in a Martian. She smiled. "I'm sure that'd be an experience." Lois smiled a little teasingly, flirting with him for some reason. "Pleased to meet you too, Smallville."

"Clark here's a new hire, an honest to goodness news man, give Ron and you a run for your money I'm betting." Perry touted, apparently very pleased to find more proof that his profession had hope of maintaining its integrity into the future, despite what he considered to be the general level of dumbing down in the media as time went on. "I was hoping you'd show him the ropes around here, maybe partner up with him on a few stories? Get his feet wet in the big city and all." He asked.

"No problem, I'd love to." Lois replied.

"Now Lois, I know you don't usually like to work w..." He'd started to turn and pace. "What did you just say?" He turned around and looked at her, having expected this to be anything but an easy sell obviously. Lois winced a little internally, realizing she shouldn't have reacted like she had, the real Lois probably wouldn't have, but she was just so -curious- about this Kent guy...

"I said: It'd be a pleasure." Lois doubled down stubbornly, too late to back out now. "Come on Clark, daylight's a wasting. Bye chief, good talk!" Lois took Clark's hand and led him out of the office, Clark looking back a little confused at the chief.

"Well I'll be a monkey's cross-eyed brother on a Sunday in June." The chief said under his breath. "No taking him to Suicide Slum and leaving him Lois, I mean it!" Perry called after them.

"Sure thing, chief!" Lois called back. "Don't worry!"

"'Don't worry' she says." Lois heard Perry mumble to himself, causing her to smile a little at having flummoxed him.

"You have a desk yet, Smallville?" Lois asked.

"No, Mr. White told me to pick one of the open ones and plant myself." Clark told, not quite sure what to do with the briefcase he was carrying. Lois took it from him and sat it down on the desk across from hers.

"Here, this desk's open. All yours, if you want." She offered, moving to sit on the edge of her desk.

"I, uh, sure, that'd be great. Thanks Ms. Lane." Clark accepted graciously.

Lois shook her head. "Lois. I'm Lois, you're Clark." Lois corrected with a smile.

"Thought I was Smallville." Clark countered with a hint of a patient smile.

"That too." Lois smiled. "And that's more like it by the way. Come to think of it, what's with that shy-guy act of yours anyway? It's your shtick, right? How you catch people off guard?" She asked.

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I know what you mean...?" Clark asked, doing an admirable job not to appear nervous, real nervous, not just pretend nervous.

"Sure you do. The slouched posture, the deferential mannerisms, the lack of self-assurance? It's an act." Though she was sure Clark did have a surprisingly well developed feminine side for a man in most Earth cultures, which was charming. She suspected he'd grown up with sisters. "Not a bad act, but an act all the same. I'm good at reading people, so don't bother denying it, Smallville. You might as well be an open book, as far as this reporter's concerned." She smiled.

"Oh, really. And if I'm putting on an act, who am I really then?" Clark asked.

"You know who you are, Clark. You don't need me to tell you." Lois smiled, got up and went to her computer. "I just need to finish up this story of mine on the local elections, send it down to editing. Mind hanging out here for a bit while I do that, shy-guy?" Lois asked, not bothering to wait to seat herself and start typing again.

"Sure do like nicknames, huh?" Clark observed. "I'm not going anywhere." And he went to sit at the desk across from hers that she'd offered him.

"Good. After, we can go out, beat the bushes, kick your tires, see what's what. I've got a few stories in the works, a meeting with a source at one. You can come along." Lois looked up. "I promised Perry I wouldn't ditch you. Don't make me regret it, understood?"

"Um, yes. Understood." Clark acknowledged.

Lois shook her head. "I'll get you to drop that act for me yet, Smallville. I'll bet you a hundred bucks." Lois told, smirking to herself a little as she started to proof read her work, not wanting to look bad to the editors.

"No bet." Clark replied, seeming more easy going now.

"Smart man." Lois quirked a little of a kind of almost shy smile at him.

"And you're a very smart woman, aren't you?" Clark told back.

"Caught me." Lois replied, a bit distracted, but still easily able to follow the banter. "You hungry? It'll be lunch time before long." She offered.

"Sure, I could eat." Clark agreed.

She looked up and caught his smile and froze just a second. Her heart beating a little faster. "Um, yeah. Great. Any objections to run of the mill deli fare?" She asked.

"None at all." Clark replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	2. New Friends

PART 2: NEW FRIENDS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- KAL ---

Clark, Kal-El he'd learned his birth name was, felt almost shockingly relaxed as he flew through the sky of Gotham-Metropolis that afternoon. It was surprising to him how freeing it was to let this side of himself be openly seen by the world. He thought of himself first really, as a simple farm boy from Kansas... turned orphan, turned world traveler, turned newspaper man. He'd only really come to Metropolis to settle because he'd heard in the news about Kara-Ze from Krypton, Power Woman. According to the Kryptonian logs left in the crystals in his ship, she was his cousin! A real family--he couldn't've stayed away. Since his adoptive parents died in Smallville when he was eight, he'd been adopted by the Langs and then set out on his own. He'd kept the secret of his alien origins and abilities from his second adoptive family, except for Lana, who'd been a best friend/quasi-sister to him. The Langs hadn't felt like a real family to him though. They'd been great, really, but he'd always felt like a guest in their home (mostly due to his own reluctance to get close again, he privately admitted to himself). So, having a real, related-to-him-by-blood family mattered a lot to him. And that there was someone else in the world who was truly the same as him, had the same background, was of the same... species, really--that mattered too. It made him feel less alone. So he'd come here and taken up being a hero like his cousin. And so this, this Superman a newspaper had called him, he was finding out that this, surprisingly, was part of him too... Though, honestly, he didn't really like the name 'Superman' much. It kind of made him want to do an interview with someone... maybe Lois, he considered, to sort of set the record straight? But really, he didn't feel up for that yet (the idea of being so in the public eye was daunting for someone so used to hiding who he was). And he knew, now that he had a job at the Planet, he could get the scoop on himself very easily, and relatively anonymously, but... that just seemed too dishonest. Like he'd be cheating to get ahead. He wanted to make a name for himself as Clark Kent honestly. By doing good reporting that he could genuinely feel proud of.

Right now though, there had been a string of grisly murders in the old Gotham neighborhoods, around the park there. Low income families, homeless people, and a police officer, Detective Harvey Bullock, who'd had a distinguished, if colorful carrier. Clark had met him once, when he'd first visited the city. Harvey'd interviewed him as a witness when Clark had covertly saved some people from an arson. Some had thought Clark was a suspect, but Bullock hadn't. He'd cleared him and found the real arsonist; with a little covert help from Clark himself.

Now, he wanted to return the favor, and prevent any more deaths from occurring. Personally, he blamed the press to a certain extent though, for not reporting the other deaths in the headlines because they'd been poor or homeless people. Maybe if they had, he or someone like him would have known about it and been able to stop the killings before Harvey had become a victim. As a reporter, he vowed to himself to do his part to change that.

He landed in the ally where Bullock had been killed and used his powers of vision to try to put together some of what happened, maybe find a clue. "You can come out, I know you're there, whoever you are." He spoke, having heard the all but silent approach of a person, a man by the way he carried himself (somehow, he could just tell those sort of things; he couldn't say exactly how, it was mostly just instinct), though he hadn't reacted to maintain the advantage of surprise.

"Very impressive," an imposing voice replied. "To hear me coming. You're the first that has."

Kal turned to face him and cocked his head to the side a little in considering him. "You'd be the Batman, I take it. Not an urban legend after all then."

"Apparently not." Batman came close to him.

Kal studied him and looked under the mask. "Bruce Wayne? Huh, that's a surprise." He commented.

"...How did..." Bruce took a step back.

Clark taped the side of his head by his eye with his finger. "These eyes don't miss very much. Sorry. Your secret's safe with me though. As long as it turns out you haven't been killing these people, of course."

"Not me." Bruce answered. "What's your stake in this then, 'Superman' is it?"

Clark winced just a little at that. "Kal-El is my name, Kal's fine. I didn't chose 'Superman', and I'm not really a fan of Nietzsche, so I'm not too fond of the nickname actually." He admitted.

"Huh." Bruce replied. "My question?"

"...Harvey Bullock was a friend. Or, he helped me out once, at least. I'd like to return the favor." Kal told.

"We have that in common at least then." Bruce considered him critically a moment, apparently reassured some by his answer. Kal decided that personal connections probably meant a lot to this man, in a deeper way than for most people. He kind of wanted to find out why that was so. "Perhaps we should work together, then?" Bruce offered.

Kal looked at him and thought, sympathy aside, he was probably just doing this under the heading of 'friends close, enemies closer' and not having decided quite yet just which one Kal would be to him. He wanted to learn more about him, in other words. Kal smiled. He could be accommodating to that. "Deal." He agreed. "I think we need to start at the park."

"Why's that?" Bruce asked.

"Lake water residue, all over the ground." Kal tapped his head again. "Like I said, my eyes don't miss much."

"...alright then. I'll follow your lead. For now." Bruce agreed.

Kal smiled a little ruefully. "You asked for it." He moved faster than a human could see, scooped Bruce up in his arms, and had them by the lake side in less than a second, setting Bruce down. Physics said that the trip should have been damaging to a human, but somehow it wasn't. Again, Kal didn't know exactly how he knew to make just the right 'adjustments' to have an effect like that, he just knew how to do things like that. Where it should have been hard for someone who could topple buildings with his bare hands with barely any real effort to interact with the human world, with humans themselves in particular (who were very fragile in comparison to him), without incident, it had never been a problem for him somehow. And he did wonder how he always managed it so easily, but he'd resigned himself that he'd probably never know. The Kryptonian database couldn't tell him, at any rate. Maybe he'd ask Kara about it, who could do the same things. She had such a keen scientific mind, maybe she could puzzle it out. 

"...How..." Bruce looked at him and narrowed his eyes. "Don't do that again, Kal-El." His words were unequivocal.

Kal smiled. "How about I ask first next time?"

"I'll say no." Bruce replied.

"We'll see." Kal replied, walking towards the lake and kneeling down. He touched the water and ran his fingers over the surface, then looked underneath. "...Dear God... What is that... Is that a man down there, or an animal?" He looked at Bruce. "I'll be right back." And he was gone, diving under water.

A minute later, he broke the surface and tossed a flailing... crocodile man... onto the shore.

"Killer Crock." Bruce informed him, standing back and throwing a taser charged grappling line to entangle the beast's legs.

"You!!!" Crock recognized Bruce, or rather Batman, the taser shock only making him more infuriated. He ripped the cord away, charging at him. "Eat you up, Batman!!!" He growled.

Kal grabbed his wrist and squeezed. Killer Crock fell down on his keens and cried out in pain. "Did you kill those people? The cop?" Kal asked.

"Ahhh!!! Let go! Yes!! Yes, I killed them, let me go... please let me go..." He made a sort of whining noise.

Kal did, and decked him. He fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious. "What is he?" Kal asked. "More importantly, what do we do with him? I mean... I know he looks like part animal, but he talked like a man. We can't just... put him down like a mad dog..."

"No, we can't... Much as it might be kinder to him to do so..." Bruce answered, for just a moment looking at him with something close to... faith. It made Kal want to be worthy of that look, for some reason.

"What do you mean?" Kal asked.

Bruce looked at him. "This man didn't ask to be like this, Kal-El. Someone did this to him."

"Someone... That's..." Clark shook his head. "Can't something be done? A treatment devised?"

"I had someone working on it. And I'd thought Crock was locked away at Arkham."

"Arkham?" Kal asked.

"A prison slash mental institution for the criminally insane." Bruce provided.

Kal just shook his head. "I'm taking him to my cousin, Kara. She'll know what to do." Kal told, kneeling down and easily tossing Killer Crock over his shoulder. He turned to Bruce and smiled a little. "What to come with?"

But he was gone. "Huh. Well what do you know about that?" He shook his head a little and flew off. Privately impressed that Bruce had been able to slip away without him noticing like that. He certainly was a very interesting person, Kal had to admit. Attractive even, even with the 'Batman' suit on--something about that voice of his...

\--- J'ONN ---

Later that night, Lois was sitting on her couch with her legs pulled up to her chest, wearing a silk robe after having taken a shower. Cat was just coming in from having gone to dinner with Lori. Lori had an out-of-town conference to attend and Cat was going to pack her things and meet her at the airport in the morning to go with her. After all, she'd done all her research, she could write her next column from her laptop.

"Hey, what's with you, my girl." Cat got on the couch with he and snuggled up next to her, twining her arm with Lois's and leaning on her shoulder.

Lois smiled. "I think I met someone new today, someone I like..." She admitted.

"Yeah? So, what's wrong with that?" Cat asked, pushing her over and laying down next to her snuggled together on the couch. "What's her name?"

Lois held her back, glad for the contact. Lori had been kind of alarmed at how close the two of them were, jealous perhaps, but she'd mostly gotten used to it and been satisfied that Lois/J'onn wasn't a threat to her new relationship. "-His- name is Clark Kent. The new reporter? Have you met him?"

"Um... No, not yet... A man? Really? Huh... must be special." Cat replied.

"I really think he is, Cat. There's just something about him, well, more than one something really... ~I want to bed him I think...~" She bit her lip as she spoke the last in Martian. The gender issue wasn't an issue for her (as, for Martians, that often tended to not matter all that much) except for that it would be an issue for Lois. Lois had never dated a man, it was unlikely she ever would.

"~Then go ahead and bed him, he'd be a fool to turn you down.~" Cat replied reasonably.

Lois smiled. "He would, wouldn't he?" She felt better, despite herself. She hated to admit it, but she realized she had been feeling a bit insecure for some reason. Naked, exposed somehow, caught off guard at least. Maybe how she'd made him feel with calling him on his act, she considered, smiling a little at the thought. "But Lois wouldn't ask a man to her bed, would she?"

"Doubt it." Cat confirmed. "J'onn, I hate to say it though... and I know it won't matter much to you even if you agree with me... and to an extent I don't think it -does- mater. You'd still keep trying, and you -should-... but, you have to know, whatever happened to her, to Lois... I mean..." She felt her chest grow tighter. "She's probably dead, J'onn. And... and even if she's not, ~God of fire, I hope she hasn't met you in the desert~ ...if she's not, then she'd want you to be happy, to have a life for yourself. ~You know she would, my flicker spark~." In Martian culture, it was the norm that two as close as they would have private names, nicknames for one another. ~Flicker spark~ was the name Cat had come up with for J'onn.

Lois moved and got up a little and kissed Cat on the forehead. "You always know just what I need to hear most, don't you?" She sighed and snuggled up with her friend again. "You know... if you had chosen me, I would have gladly been your lover, ~even your mate I think.~" She confessed softly.

Cat moved and kissed Lois's forehead again. "I know... ~I regret sometimes I wasn't brave enough for that~, but then I think I probably am still not so brave as that. What was that you said that night? Some people want, or need, more distance in their relationships than others do?"

J'onn smiled. "Very true."

"Do you think Clark Kent would be the one to accept an intimacy so deep for you?" Cat asked.

Lois sighed. "Oh, who's to say." She smiled. "I don't suppose you'd fuck me one time for the hell of it, would you? I think I could use it right now, to get my head on straight... No pun intended." Lois laughed and so did Cat.

"And be a two-timing bitch-whore on Lori with you?" She pinned Lois under her on the couch and looked down into her eyes, trying to look deadly serious but failing miserably. "Not going to happen. I promised her you were off limits that way, I'm not going back on that just to provide a distraction for you, and from a guy no less!"

Lois smiled. "I'd be alright with you calling and asking permission first?" She teased.

Cat got up, grabbed a pillow, and whacked her with it. "Brat." She accused.

Lois let out a long, relaxed breath. "I feel better. Thanks ~beautiful daylight~" She replied, using the nickname she'd given her.

"Any time ~flicker spark~" Cat snuggled up to her again happily, not really having taken what Lois had said before seriously. Although she -was- pretty sure Lois wouldn't have said no if Cat had taken her up on the offer, which made her feel good about herself, stroked her ego in a good way some. She had wondered to herself, more than once, if J'onn/Lois would have said yes to her if she'd wanted to have a relationship with her after their night together. It was nice to have the answer.

They lay there a minute or so. "So, you and Lori, your first vacation together? Can the wedding be far behind?" Lois asked, a smile spreading over her face.

Cat pushed her a little and got on top of her again. "I think you like teasing me just a little too much."

Lois smiled up at her. "Caught me." She admitted with a soft breath, meeting her best friend's eyes trustingly.

Cat looked into those eyes and couldn't help a soft slightly sad smile. "If I didn't know you weren't her, I don't know if even I could tell you weren't..." She spoke, laying on her side.

Lois propped herself up on her elbow and met her eyes again. She smiled a little. "Sometimes I can't tell I'm not her ether I think." She admitted that secret truth. "Being her, it feels so much better than being myself. ~Would it be so bad if J'onn J'onzz just... melted away~?" She asked.

"Yes, it would." Cat kissed her chastely on the lips, just a peck. "But everyone changes, even down that deep. Why should you be any different?" She asked, touching her cheek.

"Why should I indeed." Lois lay back on her back again.

"...You know, if she did ask me, I think I'd say yes... To marrying her, I mean." Cat answered the question she'd been asked, laying on Lois's shoulder and sighing.

"...I'm glad." Lois replied. "I like her for you Cat, really I do. You're... very beautiful together."

Cat smiled. "We are, aren't we? ...We click."

"Yes you do." Lois smiled, running an absent hand through her friend's hair. "I don't suppose you could convince her to move in here with you, huh? So you'd still be my roommate after you've got that ball and chain on your ankle?"

Cat smiled. "Oh, and I suppose you'd have Clark Kent move in with you? Make it a party? It's a big place Lois, but it's not that big."

"I don't mind a crowded place." Lois admitted. "...We could always get a penthouse. Together, the four of us could probably afford it. With a pool?" She looked hopefully to her friend.

"Ha. Tempting Lane, very tempting." Cat answered.

"I do look amazing in a bathing suit, don't I?" Lois smiled.

"Fuck right you do." Cat answered, biting her lower lip a little. Lois could tell Cat was remembering just that.

Lois smiled.

"A swimming pool." Cat spoke. "Lori would love that, wouldn't she?"

"She would." Lois agreed. "Have you made love to her while she's all wet and mermaid-sleek yet?" She asked playfully.

"Lois!" She pushed her a little playfully, they lay back down on her shoulder. "So what if I have."

Lois smiled. "So... details?" Lois asked.

Cat growled a little. "Fine. Tell me though, when you get hot and heavy with mister good-body reporter man, if you had the choice, would you most want to be a man or a woman with him?"

"Hmm... you know, I don't know." Lois admitted. "I've never been in this situation before... I think, given the choice, I'd want to try both." She answered. "Not that I know whether he'd be open to that... I barely know anything about him after all."

Cat buried her head in Lois's hair a little more. "Sometimes I forget that Martian modesty isn't human modesty."

"That's understandable, you were born into human society after all. Even possessing my memories and emotions, I'd be surprised if you favored them in something like this rather than your own." Lois reflected. "So, I told you mine, how was it with her as a mermaid?" She asked curiously.

Cat quirked a smile. "Well, it certainly is memorable." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Her scales sliding over me feel so soft and good..." She shivered a little. "I've never felt anything like it, actually... "

Lois smiled. "Sounds wonderful..." She mused. "I'll have to try being a mermaid sometime, won't I?"

"Oh, I wish I could." Cat told her a little dreamily. "Swimming in the ocean with her, having a tail like hers..." She quirked a smile. "You know, I remember how Martians make love, how you just... melt into each other. Sometimes, when I'm with her, it feels like I should be doing that, like I'm... trying to do something I remember so clearly doing, but I just... can't anymore..." Cat looked over and saw tears on Lois's face. "Oh... ~I'm so sorry, my bright spark~" Cat wiped her tears away and kissed her gently, chastely, hugging her and starting to cry herself.

"~My M'Yri'ah~..." Lois spoke in a whisper, starting to shake with crying and the rawness of remembrance. Cat just held her and stoked her hair. Somehow, since becoming female, since finding so close a friend to trust and lean on, she'd been able to let herself feel her grief more, not always hold it back so much. And, she imagined, she felt those feelings a little differently as a human, and as a female. Hormones partly, she supposed (Martians didn't even have those... they had something sort of analogous, but very different). Truly, it was a gift.

\--- J'ONN ---

The next day she spent with Clark, went to lunch with him again, he was pretty much by her side the whole day (working on a story about a new Lex Corp energy initiative that smelled fishy to Lois, as did pretty much anything having to do with Lex Luthor, whom she highly despised), and that spark between them only grew. She was really starting to like him a lot, and grow more curious about him too. She hadn't much more than brushed his mind a few times, only enough to catch a few fleeting surface thoughts and feelings that didn't tell her much. It would be risky looking in his mind wholesale after all. A mind like his? She couldn't know if he'd be able to tell what she was doing or not, and besides, she kind of enjoyed the mystery of it all and was reluctant to spoil it too soon for some reason. She was pretty sure he wasn't a threat at least. Everything she felt or sensed from him was warm, caring, friendly, good... alluring, if she was honest. He was witty and charming in an uncommon way, had a very fresh take on life in general she thought, he just had this kind of extremely vibrant energy about him that called to her, and she was pretty sure she could look into those blue eyes of his all day and not get bored. She was getting more and more curious about bedding him and what it would be like, if she were even more honest, though she hadn't done anything more about him than flirt with him a little, still unsure of herself in this regard. As much as she felt drawn to him, felt comfortable and secure around him, there was something else about him that made her hesitate. Like this really mattered somehow, and she didn't want to rush it. Like as if she were going to try to bed Cat again if Cat were open to it (which, even though Lois liked Lori really well and thought she was great for Cat, a significant part of her just couldn't quite let go of the hope that maybe Cat would chose her instead one day, as illogical as it was), as serious as that would be, this was to her. It demanded care and patience.

That night though, after she left work, she was feeling restless and very much not wanting to go home to an empty apartment and find her best friend gone away with her lover and she with no one. She paused on the corner before hailing a cab and took out her cell phone, calling a familiar number from her contacts list: Erica Alexandra Del Portenza, Gotham-Metropolis's famous, or perhaps somewhat infamous, Countessa. She was one of the richest, most influential people in the city, with business interests all over the world, practically.

Months ago, she had been interviewing Erica about a charity she was founding to help disadvantaged inner-city kids. One thing had led to another and they'd ended up in Erica's bed that evening with their clothes off making passionate love to one another. In the morning, Erica had said something along the lines of 'I suppose I can expect a glowing review of my charity from you now, can't I?' as Lois was getting up. Erica had been sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapped in the bed sheets, and Lois had slapped her, indigent, at the lurid and presumptive way she'd said that as much as what she'd said, which had been offensive enough. 'How dare you.' Lois had said. Erica had seduced her again after that and they'd made love again, this time with more friction, an underlying battle for emotional dominance evident, which neither of them won. Lois had left a note for the sleeping Erica, saying 'If I were writing about your talent as a lover, the review would be absolutely glowing. Call me, -Lois.'

Erica had called about a week later and they'd gone to dinner together and ended up in bed again. Over the intervening time, they'd gotten together off and on, mostly for sex and that dynamic they seemed to have, kind of an ongoing verbal dual, laced with lust, mutual admiration, and challenge to see who would win their little dual of emotional dominance, both probably hoping neither ever would. The dance was too much fun. And Lois felt like she needed that tonight, needed the distraction, to feel desired and appreciated in that special and unique way Erica made her feel appreciated. Like she was an equal in a game Erica hadn't found many equals in. 

Erica answered on the first ring. "Lois, my darling, beautiful lover, how completely pleasurable it is to hear your voice. I've missed you."

Lois smiled. "Likewise. I was thinking we might have dinner tonight, if you're free?" She asked.

There was a short pause, then--"You know, I think I just can make time for that. The Athena club? Say, seven?" She asked, referring to a high-end lesbian dance club she owned (dance as in classical music with fine dining and a series of indoor pools on the top floor). "I'll send a car."

"I'll be waiting for it." Lois agreed happily.

"Wear something wonton and... lustful... if you want." Erica flirted.

"Oh, I will. You just wear something that you won't mind me ripping off you later... if you want." Lois bantered.

Erica veritably purred. "You do say the sweetest things, don't you lover? Mmm, have to be going now, until later, think about me, won't you?" And the line went dead before Lois could reply.

Lois hugged the phone to her, closed her eyes, and smiled, humming a little, remembering how it felt to be with Erica. She sighed and looked up into the night sky, imagining for just a second that everything was great in the world, no confusion, no pain, no tragedy, just... joy. It was a fleeting thought, one she couldn't recall ever having before actually. She shook her head a little and smiled a little ruefully to herself. "Lane, you need to have your head examined." She told the night as she went to hail a cab to go home and change.

Arriving home after a slow cab ride, during which she'd let her mind just wonder aimlessly, she arrived back at her and Cat's apartment. She looked around and sighed, wishing Cat hadn't gone. Cat had come to mean so much to her so fast, she'd come to be so used to having her always there when she came home, even catching the same cab back in some cases. Less lately because of Lori, bur still, she missed her. She really did think the idea of Lori moving in with them was a good one. She didn't mind being second place in Cat's heart, just as long as Cat was still in her life. She lamented to herself that that might very well not be up to her and that she might have to let her best friend go more than she'd like. The idea made her feel a deep, nameless sort of sad, so she went and put on some music. A little classical guitar music to sooth her fears and distract her thoughts.

The music helped. She decided to throw off her doubts and worries and just be a little bold and enjoy herself tonight. Erica was nothing if not singularly talented at lifting her spirits and making her feel alive, in her own unique and very enjoyable fashion. She could... take charge of her, like no one else, except maybe the real Lois, ever had. Lois couldn't quite picture herself with Erica as her life-mate for some reason, they just didn't seem to click that way, at least as things stood between them now (one never could account for the future of course), but they did click some way. And it was fascinating too, there was something about Erica that just defied her senses. She could only ever read emotions from her, never anything more than ghosts of thoughts. The Countessa was definitely something other than strictly human. Not that Lois really cared much about that; after all, she herself wasn't actually human at all, much as she was presently doing a very, very, very close imitation if she did say so herself.

She shucked all her clothes and went about choosing her lingerie and picking out a dress, one of the several Erica had sent her over the last months as gifts, no doubt with the self-serving goal of seeing her in them. She picked a dark silvery one that showed a lot of almost everything, really, and slipped it on, standing in front of the mirror without shoes and looking at herself appreciatively. Running her hands over the dress and touching her lips a little, imagining Erica was there touching them for her. She smiled to herself and bit down on her finger a little. Her body definitely knew what it wanted tonight, and she was in complete agreement. She really looked at herself then, and had a realization that the woman she was looking at in the mirror was becoming more and more who she was, really who she was. She had changed a lot since she'd taken over Lois's life, and she realized she was probably going to change a lot more over the coming months and years. How that would be and where her life would take her, she could hardly even guess, but one thing was for sure, she'd been stuck in grief and loneliness for so long, it felt so good to be moving again. She steadfastly told herself that her wife and children would want that for her, just as she knew she herself would want that for them had they survived and he not. It was a comforting thought, in so far as it went, though she knew there would always be a limit, a place in her such comfort would likely never be able to touch or reach.

She sighed to herself, looked away from the mirror, went to get her shoes, and a coat. She checked the time and saw she had a half hour to go before her ride would be there. She considered that and thought maybe she should call someone. Cat, or Clark maybe? Thinking about it, she didn't really want to hear Cat's voice right now without being able to touch her or see her eyes, and she didn't want to interrupt if Cat was in the middle of being... frisky (or romantic, or having fun, or just spending quality time with Lori, or something), so she got out her cell and called Clark.

"Hey Smallville, Lois." Lois smiled to herself. She loved calling him that.

"Oh, uh, hey Lois. What can I do for you?" Clark asked.

Lois could hear the sound of wind in the background a lot, and was that traffic? "Nothing in particular, just calling to call. I had a half hour to kill before my date, to be honest. Thought, 'hey, Clark's new to the city, maybe could use a friendly voice', so I called." She admitted, wanting to hear how he'd react to that particular news. "Wow, it's really windy where you are, huh?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. Just a second, I'll find someplace indoors or something." He offered, covering the phone with his hand. [He'd been flying as 'Superman' when Lois called, and had landed on a bridge tower to answer his cell phone, though Lois didn't know that of course.]

"Smallville?" Lois asked, looking out the window curiously to see if there was a lot of wind outside suddenly or something.

"Yeah... I'm here Lois, sorry about that." She could hear the slightly self-conscious smile in his voice.

"No problem. So how's things after your first real day on the job? Let me guess, you've got this whole intrepid reporter/adrenaline junkie thing going. You're out chasing a story right now because you just couldn't turn it off, huh? No use denying it, I'm on to you Clark." Lois smiled, going over and sitting on a stool across from the kitchen area and wishing wistfully that Cat's smiling face was there making a sandwich for herself and mouthing dirty comments to her about her conversation with the guy she had a crush on (which was still a little of an odd feeling to wrap her head around, to be honest. But, you know, early days and all that. Time would tell.)

"Ha. Caught me, I guess." Clark replied back, his manner relaxing a little.

"Uh huh, now I know you're up to something." She bantered back. "But, go ahead, keep your secrets, Clark. If it's anything interesting, I'm sure you'll tell me sooner or later. You just won't be able to help yourself."

"Can't fool you over anything, can I?" Clark replied, sounding happy with that idea somehow.

"Oh, you might be able to. Who knows?" Lois answered.

"Right. So, uh, a date, huh? Who is he?" Clark asked.

"'She' actually, and her name's Erica." Lois answered fondly of both Erica and Clark.

"Oh, sorry, I just thought... never mind. So, Erica, huh? Is it serious? You and Erica?" Clark asked.

Lois smiled, very pleased to hear the disappointment in his voice at learning she might be both unavailable, and perhaps even uninterested in men. "Mmm, not the way you mean, I suppose. We just, well, honestly we go out to dinner and then make love and sleep together once and a while. Kind of a friends with benefits sort of thing, but I'd say we're at least definitely good friends. Sad thing is, she's the most committed relationship I've been in for a long time."

"I see..." Clark replied, and Lois could tell he was a little lost in thought about this.

"And Clark, you didn't misinterpret anything. I usually date women, but... I'm not against dating men or anything. In case you were wondering." She told with a smile.

"Oh, no, that... um, good to know I guess. I've been known to date on both sides of the fence myself, actually." He gave up. "Um so, why the fear of commitment then? Was it first love gone bad, or...?"

Lois felt that familiar pang inside of her. "I was... when I was young, there was this girl. My best friend, really." Lois lied. "We were going to get married and everything. But... she died, in a fire. Arson they said. Random act of craziness... We didn't even know the guy. I guess, since then... I still dream about her... I guess it's just been hard to let people get close, you know?" She told softly. "After it happened, after the funeral, I kind of just, set off on my own and ended up where I am somehow."

"Oh, Lois... I'm sorry." Clark spoke.

"Don't be." Lois put on a brave smile and closed her eyes. "So what about you, Smallville? Seeing anyone serious?" She asked.

Clark laughed. "'Fraid not. I had a girlfriend back home, in Smallville. Lana. We grew up together. Like you said, my best friend. We went traveling abroad together even. But we... I guess you'd say we had a falling out of sorts. I think we were just too different. You know, where it mattered. I was orphaned, twice actually; I didn't want to settle down, and she did... And no, I mean, since then, I've had a few dates now and then, there was a man in Tasmania I dated for a while, didn't end so well, and a woman in London who I hit it off with before I came here... but I've not no one in my life right now, not that way anyway..."

"Really... um, what was the story with the woman from London then?" Lois asked intrigued. Intrigued about the rest also, Lana and twice orphaned? And what did 'didn't end so well' mean? But she got the sense Clark didn't want to talk about that part, and she didn't feel like perusing the rest right then either. Later.

"Oh, well, let's see. Her name was Lea, Lea Corbin. We met... chasing a story. She works for a left-wing N.P.O. there, but I was just staying a few weeks, trying to pick up a little freelance stuff, get a byline or two to my name if I could. We got to talking, I asked her out, we had a great week and a half together, but I was leaving and she told me she wasn't really looking for a relationship just then, so we left it at that."

"Hmm. You're definitely the romantic type Clark Kent, anyone could tell you that." She smiled. "I bet you don't have a problem in the world with the idea of commitment, do you?" She dared him a little.

"No, can't say that I do, actually..." He confessed. "Both sets of my adoptive parents had a good, strong marriages. Never fell out of love, from what I could tell... I'd be lying if I said I didn't want the same for myself one day."

"Mmm, yup." Lois pressed her lips together a little and ran a hand down her leg. "I pegged you alright. Hopeless romantic. Good for you, Smallville. I wish you the best with it."

"Ha, thanks, I think. So, what about you? Think you'll ever want to settle down again? Take a chance?" He asked. The conversation somehow having gotten very personal very fast. Lois felt strangely like they might be the only two people in the world right just then, as irrational a concept as that was.

"Me? Oh sure. If I met the right person, I think I'd definitely be willing to... take a chance." She answered honestly. "So, see you at work tomorrow, Clark? I think I should be going. Hot date and all."

"Right, I think I've got to be somewhere too. It was nice talking with you, Lois." He hung up, his last words having a sense of urgency to them. Strange, Lois thought as she closed her phone. It was definitely like Clark had to be somewhere, but the quality of his voice didn't say he was chasing a story. It just made her all the more curious.

She looked at the clock and saw she had nine minutes before she had to be out front to meet the car Erica was sending. She smiled to herself and sighed, her mood changed from her conversation with Clark, though she was still very ready and willing as far as Erica was concerned. She gathered her things in the purse that matched her dress, checked to make sure everything was off in the apartment so she didn't waste electricity, then noticed the house-phone was blinking. She went over and listened to the messages. One was from her dad (the real Lois's dad at least), General Sam Lane, just checking in with her apparently, wondering when she'd be able to visit him and her sister. 

Lucy and he had come to see her for a week shortly after she'd made her 'triumphant return' and she'd liked them well enough, Lucy more than Sam. But even the gruff old general had his charms, she could see where Lois had gotten some things from him in the way of personality at least, which did endear him to her some, in addition to the way Lois felt about him which she also remembered.

She wrote a note for herself about that, then listened to the second message, one from Cat. Just telling her everything was going fine with her trip and saying how wonderful Lori was. She even joked that maybe Lois should start looking for that penthouse with the pool after all, which made Lois feel better, even though she couldn't tell how much she was joking about that. She hoped Cat was serious so much, hoped Cat really felt the same way about not wanting to move into separate places, maybe she was just seeing things. It wasn't a cultural norm here for a married couple to have a roommate, though it certainly couldn't be unheard of, right? On Mars it would be somewhat common if there was a family relation in play, much less so without that. But J'onn didn't have any family anymore; for her, Cat was the closest thing to that she'd had since she'd lost her people all those years ago.

She sighed and headed out the door. In front of her building, the car Erica sent waited. Lois checked her watch and found she was on time, so the car must have gotten there a little early.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	3. Dating Isn't For The Faint Of Heart

PART 3: DATING ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- J'ONN (continued) ---

Lois smiled to and greeted the woman holding the door open to her and got in, feeling as if a certain kind of weight had been lifted off her and she was free just to have a good time and not think about tomorrows. Erica always had that effect on her. Lois/J'onn didn't feel herself to be an unspontaneous person as a rule, she knew how to make the call on the fly, as Lois or J'onn, more as Lois perhaps, but when she was with Erica, she felt a little wild and a kind of carefree she'd never felt before.

And so it was, a couple hours later, Lois found herself in Erica's arms, kissing her as they arrived in Erica's bedroom. Lois pinned Erica to the back of the door as they closed it, intent on nothing but Erica's lips and the feel of her body, well, that and getting Erica's clothes off. Erica flipped her around and pinned her against the wall and Lois smiled, surrendering a little to her, then surging forward to kiss her forcefully. She stopped though, when her senses finally penetrated her lust-filled haze enough to tell her that they weren't alone in the room. She looked over Erica's shoulder and saw two identical women in Erica's bed, nude, one with her head on the other's shoulder, and watching them with interest. "Who are they?" Lois asked, feeling a little confused and a little mad at Erica for whatever this was.

Erica smiled and brought her hands up to Lois's face to guide her back to eye contact. She smiled disarmingly. "I know, I should have told you, but... I wanted it to be a surprise." She moved in to kiss her and Lois wasn't so annoyed with her that she'd turn away being kissed. Erica backed away and stood beside Lois, holding her hand. "Lois Lane, may I introduce Margot and Aliki Marceau. I've sort of been..." She bit her lip a little. "Dating them, recently."

The two women waved to her and smiled, both saying 'hi'. Lois said it back.

Erica came around in front of Lois and took both of her hands, looking into her eyes. Lois just kind of looked at her a little annoyed. "They're living with me, if you want to know the truth." Erica admitted.

"Uh-huh." Lois replied, smiling a little despite herself. That was just the sort of thing Erica would do.

"Well, they're ideal for me. Very agreeable to be around, they don't talk about useless things, they give spectacular massages, and they're acrobats... very... flexible, and full of stamina." She explained, a pleased look coming over her features. "And, they have other uses too." She told. "I can send them away, if a foursome... isn't to your tastes?" She offered.

Lois just shook her head a little and smiled. "Nah, I'm fine with it." She looked over Erica's shoulder and bit her lip a little. "More than fine with it, actually." She admitted. Martians had a taboo against having multiple lovers, but Lois had done this more than once and J'onn was very much immersed in being Lois right now. And really, the Martian taboo was to avoid some potentially very dangerous telepathic side effects that could occur, and since she wasn't using her telepathy right now, it didn't apply. And besides, having more people around her right now, well, she was feeling hungry for intimacy, for contact. Mind-to-mind contact ideally, but that not being in her cards right now, this was a very nice consolation. And besides, it was Erica, Lois didn't really like to say no to her if she could help it--seeing Erica smile always made her heart speed up, giving her pleasure of any kind was just too good a feeling.

"Mmm, good... I was hoping you'd say that..." and there was that smile.

"Fuck..." Lois couldn't help herself, she went at Erica and kissed her hard, forcing her dress off her so it tangled in her legs. Lois scooped her up in her arms as she fell over and went to the bed, putting her down and getting on top of her, kissing her neck.

Aliki giggled a little at that. "I think that's our cue to join in, sis." Margot spoke up, getting up and going over to untangle Erica's dress from her knees (she hadn't been wearing anything underneath).

Aliki worked at Lois's dress.

Erica laughed. "Sit up, my beautiful, eager lover, so they can undress you properly." Erica instructed.

Lois nipped her ear but complied, sitting up so she was straddling her. The sisters going over to her and working her out of her dress and panties (the dress wasn't the sort you wore a bra with). Margot kissed her and Lois kissed back. Aliki started kissing her neck, Erica just watched in fascination. The two sisters maneuvered Lois off Erica and onto her back, and soon Erica was coming over top of her and Lois found herself trapped. She easily decided to go with it though. "Be happy playing the center of attention for a while, Lois. I promise, you'll enjoy it very much..." Erica enticed. "We can take turns, but... you're the guest I suppose, so you should get to go first..."

"Mmnn, no complaints." She replied as Erica began to lower herself down to Lois's sex. Aliki moved to Lois's tit, while Margot kissed her. Hands were everywhere, Lois hand one hand tangled in Margot's hair, the other in Aliki's. As she was making out and being pleased so completely, Lois decided to look around a little in the twins' heads out of curiosity. Maybe even to gain a little insight into her mysterious Countessa?

What she found surprised her a little. The two used to be circus performers who'd gone by the stage name of Double Dare, but they turned to thieves, or high-rise artists if you wanted to say, when their family's circus went out of business. Erica had caught them trying to steal from her last month and offered them a job in industrial espionage. Lois had to smirk internally at that. Only Erica would catch thieves in her home and decide to bed them and offer them a job rather than report them. Now, normally, the whole thieves and industrial spies thing would bother her, or it would bother the real Lois anyway, but J'onn knew enough to be jaded about it. High finance, big business, on Earth, it was all pretty much legalized theft in the first place. Hoarding natural and imagined resources for the few, depriving the many of a fair share. On Mars, the very idea of it would have been laughed at and dismissed out-of-hand as completely absurd, so J'onn tended to think of it all as, basically, unenlightened childishness and leave the humans to sort it out themselves. After all, she wasn't one of them, she didn't really have a right to impose her values on them, or if she did have the right, she didn't want to try to. It wasn't in her nature. And in any case, as far as corporate movers and shakers went, as far as Lois had been able to tell investigating her as a reporter, Erica was one of the better ones. Oh, she didn't shy away from being ruthless or underhanded when it suited her, that was all part of the game Lois supposed, but she also was what would be colloquially referred to as a 'good corporate citizen', usually funding project that helped or enriched the communities in which they were based, rather than harming them. Her work in the poorer European and former Russian countries, such as the Ukraine, was particularly admirable. So, if she needed to employ a couple sexy thief types to get things done, who was she to tell her no? Especially when the twins in question were so talented with their tongues... besides, from what she sensed of the two, they were good people at heart, just with a complete distrust of governments and authority. They hadn't really trusted Erica at first either, but of course, she had begun to win them over by now. And with what Erica was doing to her clit right now, she could easily understand why.

She moaned in bliss as Margot nipped at the skin by her ear. She was slightly tilted to the side as Erica had raised one of her legs over her shoulder and was sliding her hand over Lois's shin and foot, her other hand on Lois's ass. Aliki had switched to the other tit to give her sister more room to maneuver, but had her hand on the abandoned tit between it and her sister's body. The twins were sliding their bodies sensuously against hers, it felt like she was being touched, loved, everywhere at once almost, it was amazing... she just let it happen and fell into orgasm.

True to Erica's statement, after that, they took turns being the center of attention, then after that, just winged it and had fun however they felt like. It was, Lois thought, a night that was thoroughly nourishing to her soul.

She woke up with Erica laying on her shoulder, holding her hand, Margot snuggled up to her and Aliki snuggled up to Erica. Lois had her hand on Margot's butt, and she now ran her hand over the smooth skin and tightened her grip on Erica's hand. "Mm, good morning, lovely." Margot spoke, moving in to kiss her with slow, deliberate passion. Lois kissed her back and felt Erica waking and sitting up. When Margot moved to whisper lusty things into her ear, Lois saw Aliki kissing Erica's neck from behind.

"My sister wants to rut with your friend, lover." Aliki said to Erica. "I want to rut with you... yes?" She asked, trailing her hand down to Erica's sex.

Erica looked to Lois who just smirked and shook her head a little, rolling Margot over so she was on top and kissing her--"It seems that's a yes." Erica answered softly.

Lois had decided to take the morning for herself today, as she usually spent the morning after making love with Erica again after spending the evening doing the same thing. They both had lots of stamina for it apparently.

After that initial, what Aliki called 'rutting', the twins excused themselves, saying they had some business for Erica they needed to take care of that morning. Lois peeked in their minds curiously and saw they needed to catch a jet to Madrid to investigate the regional head of Erica's business interests there. Erica suspected him of being involved in the drug trade and wanted to know for sure. Huh, Lois thought. If they found out he was, they had orders to kill him and make it look like an accident. The measure was both to assure that Erica's company's name wouldn't be dragged through the mud, and also, Lois guessed, to assuage Erica's feelings, as Lois knew Erica did not like to be made to look the fool... She hadn't known Erica was quite that dangerous a person. Erica had offered to have that job out-sourced to her personal assassin... Lady Vic? Huh. But apparently the twins hadn't had a problem with handling it themselves. It sent a little of a shiver down Lois's spine. She herself had taken a personal vow not to take another's life, she had in war with the White Martians, but not on Earth. The death screams of her people still echoed in her mind at night, she did not want to add any more voices to that choir. For some reason though, this only made her feel compassion for Erica, that she must feel she had to be so hard to survive and prosper in the world. It made her want to comfort her, show her love even more.

So, after the twins had left, that's just what Lois did. She threw herself into their love making, body and soul, with a new level of ardency. She could tell it surprised Erica, who actually acted a little skittish with her at first because of it, which Lois only found completely cute and endearing, but soon Erica let herself go and just enjoyed their love making.

At eleven-thirty, Erica finally called a halt to it (though they'd taken a break at one point for a quick breakfast; they'd had fun feeing each other), and asked Lois to shower with her. "That was... very wonderful..." Erica told as she washed Lois's body from behind her. She'd been unusually quiet since they'd gotten out of bed. "I've been thinking... Perhaps we should get together more often?... What is it the Americans call it? Go steady?" She ventured. "Would you like to... go steady with me, Lois?" Erica asked softly.

Apparently she had moved Erica more than she'd guessed, Lois considered. Erica had never broached the subject of a more serious relationship before. Lois had mentioned it once, only half serious, but Erica hadn't really noticed, or had perhaps intentionally not really noticed. Whatever the case, Lois now had a choice to make. Before Clark, she might have easily said yes to the offer. Or maybe not. But she felt closer to Erica now than she had before, like she knew what made her tick a little more. And the idea of finding out even more, of having to work for it, was strangely alluring. Now she was conflicted. Did she really want Clark though, or was it just a crush? Erica would... well, she'd never get bored, at least, and she really did want learn more about her. And Lois, the real Lois, did have a side to her that had a thing for bad girls. J'onn found she had, perhaps, picked up the trait. Erica definitely hit her in all the right places that way. Dark, mysterious, possibly damaged, but with a good heart and hidden nobility and ability to love that she just ached to try to bring out more in her. She sighed.

"I have to be honest... That's really... very tempting... but, there's someone else, or a potential someone else at least, and I want to explore that... but, now that you asked, I also want to see if maybe there can be more between us. So, um..." Lois trailed off.

"How would I feel about you trying both and seeing how things go?" Erica asked, a smirk in her voice.

"Yes?" Lois answered.

She laughed a little. "Well, after my little surprise with Aliki and Margot, I can hardly cast aspersions on... the idea of playing field a bit, can I? And far be it from me to shy away from a little competition." She leaned in and whispered in Lois's ear. "In fact, I think it makes me want you more."

"Then by all means, woo me." Lois replied, flirting and shivering when Erica licked her neck and nipped at her skin.

"You're going to be mine, Lois Lane. Maybe I'll even ask you to marry me one day. Wouldn't that be novel?" Erica told her.

"You sound so possessive when you say that." Lois answered, liking that she was sounding like that, despite herself.

"That's the idea..." Erica replied, coming around in front of her and backing her against the shower wall, kissing her and pressing herself against her. Lois responded eagerly to the dominant actions, feeling like being possessed a little right then. She had a feeling they were going to put off having lunch for a while.

\--- KAL ---

Clark laughed some at a joke Lois told as they were walking to lunch a couple days later. "You're one of a kind, Lois Lane. That's for sure." He smiled and looked up into the sky, enjoying the day.

"Yeah, that's me alright." Lois replied.

Clark looked over at her and their eyes met. If he didn't know any better, he'd think she was sad for some reason because of what he'd said. She was trying not to show it though, so he figured it would be best to respect her privacy. "So, this new mystery man in red and blue everyone's talking about? Kal-El, Power Woman's cousin?" Lois asked as he held the door open for her and she walked though.

"Oh, I don't know. Hard to say really. Didn't the Star call him Superman?" Clark asked.

Lois laughed a bit. "Yeah, they did, didn't they. And you know it's going to stick. First nickname always does."

"Probably right." They got in line to place their orders. This place, the deli they'd gone to the day they'd met, had become their spot somehow. They'd tried Chinese the second day, but both hadn't liked it much (he because he'd had real Chinese food, and the place they'd went really hadn't done it justice). Clark had the feeling Lois had just said to go there for something different, to show him she was 'food sophisticated' or something because he'd talked about his world travels with her some. By mutual assent, they'd gone back to the deli the next day and the following days. "Too bad for him."

"You don't like 'Superman', Clark?" Lois asked in jest.

Clark shrugged. "The Nietzsche connection bugs me. People could get the wrong impression."

"Never read his stuff myself. But if it bugs you so much, Smallville, do something about it. Write, my good reporter, write." Lois told him.

"Huh. Maybe I will." Clark replied. "So, you think the chief really means it? About the reward?" Clark asked.

"What? Two-hundred bucks bonus and a pick of assignments voucher from him? Sure. Probably something to do with that management seminar he went to last month." Lois informed. "Just don't think you'll win, Clark. You got me for completion after all."

"We'll see." He replied as they placed their orders, privately thinking he might just give her the win on this one (as he was definitely the one who got to decide it in this case, much as he didn't envy himself that position to be in), even though he was kind of reluctant to let her see him as 'Superman', half convinced the remarkably perceptive Lois would be able to see it was him right away. Other than his 'shy-guy' act, which Lois clearly hadn't bought for a second somehow, he only had a pair of glasses and a hairstyle as a disguise after all, when you came down to it. He half wanted to just 'out' himself. Everyone knew his cousin was the CEO of Starr Corp and Power Woman both after all, she didn't keep it a secret. But really, that worked for her because she was a CEO with lots of money and all. Her own boss. He was pretty sure his job as a reporter would be at grave risk if everyone knew his... family history. And he didn't really -want- to be treated like he was, well, something other than human, not all the time at least.

"Bet you five bucks." Lois offered, smiling, as they went to take their seats with their drinks to wait for their food to be prepared.

"Nah." Clark said. "Not really the kind of beat I like to cover anyway." He answered. He liked social causes, politics, and human interest pieces mainly.

"That's true." Lois agreed. "I've been reading your stuff lately, Smallville. The chief was right, you've got what it takes and then some." She admitted.

Clark smiled. "Thanks... From you, that means a lot." He told. Lois could write anything and make it sound real, make you believe it mattered. "I've got to admit, I've followed your stuff in the Planet for years. You're definitely one of the greats, Lois. No doubt."

"Better than you?" Lois asked, curious.

"Mm, hard to say. Probably... a little." He answered with a smile.

Lois smiled too. "Nice of you to admit..." She replied. "Listen, um, Clark..."

"Yeah?" Clark asked.

"I was wondering, would you... like to go out with me sometime? On a date?" She asked. She had been on another date with Erica since they'd started to be more serious, but Erica was out of town now, in Spain actually, so Lois thought now was a good time for this.

"I, uh..." Clark shook his head a little and smiled. "Yeah, sure... I'd like that." He answered without thinking about it too much. Other than that he'd be an idiot to say no.

"Boys usually ask the girls this sort of thing in Kansas, don't they?" Lois observed, apparently having picked up on what the surprise in his reaction had been about.

"Mostly, I guess. In Africa and Asia too, though. I'm glad you asked though... I mean, I know you usually don't..."

"Date men?" Lois asked. "Actually, you'd be only the second one, the first since high school." She admitted.

Clark's eyes widened a little. "Wow. I guess I must have really made a good impression then."

"You did." Lois answered, touching his hand and looking into his eyes. "There's just this... something about you. In your eyes... makes me want to know you... a lot better. Gender really matters very little to me in the face of that." She admitted.

Clark smiled at that and felt himself blush just a little. "Likewise..." He told softly. And it was true. There was just something about Lois that seemed to call to him in a way he'd never felt before, not even with Lana. It was like, somehow, he just knew, here was someone who'd get him, who'd... understand. Who he'd trust with his life, really. As crazy and impossible as that seemed to him, she just seemed like... a kindred spirit, somehow.

Their order number was called and Lois got up to go get the food before he could think to. "Be right back." She told.

Clark watched her go get the food idly. He had to admit too, she was a very, very beautiful woman. Maybe the most beautiful woman he'd ever met if he was honest. Just that smile of hers, the way she moved, the spark in her eyes... he sighed. He had a feeling he was in trouble.

\---J'ONN---

Cat was back and Lois was so glad that when they got home together and got into the apartment that afternoon, Lois just hugged her as soon as they got in the door, even though she'd hugged her before when she'd arrived at work that morning and again when she'd gone to her desk to head home with her at the end of the day. "Oh, I missed you!" She told, Cat hugging her back just as happily. "I know I said that before, but I really missed you Cat."

"Me too, Lois. J'onn." Cat replied, taking her face in her hands and smiling, kissing her cheek, before going to put her purse away and take her coat off.

Lois shut and locked the door and put her own stuff away too. "So, tell me everything." Lois asked.

Cat laughed. "Maybe later." She answered, going over to the couch and sitting down. "First..."

"Yeah?" Lois asked.

"Um, about what you said before? You know, the penthouse? With the pool?"

"Uh-huh." Lois replied.

"Well, I really missed you too, when I was away." She told, leaning on Lois's shoulder and snuggling up to her. "More than I thought I would..." She admitted. "I want to do what you said. When Lori and I get married, because at this point it seems pretty inevitable to me we will get married soon, after it happens, I want us to still be roommates. It’s like... you’re a part of me, you know? It hurts, the idea of not having you around. I'm..." She kissed her neck a little. "I'm not sure I could stand it." She finally admitted.

Lois just smiled, she couldn't help but smile, she pushed Cat on her back on the couch and smiled down at her. "...I hope you don't mind me saying, but that's the best news I've had all week."

"Even better than Clark saying yes to you asking him out? Even better than the foursome with Erica? Come on, it couldn't be better than that." Cat pushed at her playfully.

"Well, yeah, maybe a tie on that one." She admitted. "As for Clark, it all depends on how good he is in bed." Lois answered.

"What if he won't put out for you?" Cat teased.

"You think he won't?" Lois asked, laying down an resting her head on Cat's shoulder. "Well, I guess I could wait a while... if he really wanted." She mused. "Hope he's easy though, I really want to touch him more, make love to him... I mean, we have to, to know if we're compatible or not, right?"

Cat just shook her head. "You didn't use to be like this when you were a Martian, J'onn. Being Lois has changed you."

"I know it." J'onn agreed. "But also, it's not the same, you know. Martians and humans are so different. I have to adapt." She explained.

"That's true." Cat agreed, playing with Lois's hair a little. "I'm going to ask Lori about the penthouse tomorrow..." Cat told.

"What if she says no?" Lois asked.

"...I don't know. If she says yes, I'm going to ask her to marry me on the weekend. If not... I guess we'll see..." She answered, sounding scared of the idea.

Lois couldn't help but think that maybe she did have a chance with Cat after all if Lori turned her down. But really, she didn't think Lori would. "She'll say yes. She's in love with you Cat... it's really easy to see."

"~Easy faith comes to those who speak of others' risks~" Cat answered lazily in Martian.

Lois smiled and giggled a little. "You're right of course. And I still love your accent." She told. Cat had this way of speaking Martian that was uniquely hers; Martian with a Gotham-Metropolis accent. It was endearing, to say the least, and it made her light up inside with a unique combination of joy, fond memories, and abject grief every time she heard it. Not that the feelings of grief made her want to hear it less. Before Cat, she'd despaired she'd never hear her people's language from another's lips again. For those words to be alive for someone else again, she'd never wish for that not to be so.

"~Thanks, you have a pretty voice too.~" Cat complemented her back teasingly.

Lois snuggled closer to Cat and held her closer, sighing and closing her eyes. "~Can we just lay here for a while?~" She asked softly.

"Yeah... 'course we can..." Cat stroked her hair a little and closed her eyes too.

It was just so nice having someone like Cat, a real friend again. Someone who felt so much like... home.

A little more than an hour later, they were sitting by Cat's computer in her room. Cat was reading some of the letters she got to her column and Lois was helping her answer them for fun. Cat wrote pieces for the society pages and had recently started an advice column when Jane Lake, the paper's former advice columnist, left. Lois had secretly been helping her with it sometimes because it was so much fun, and as a Martian, Cat said she liked to hear her perspectives on things.

They heard the door open, and Lois saw Cat's face light up.

"Lori's here." Lois spoke. Even without having sensed her coming from down the hall with her telepathy, Lois would have known because Lori was the only one except them and Lois's sister Lucy who had a key to their apartment. Lois had called Lucy that morning to talk, so she knew Lucy was definitely still in Washington, D.C., lobbying for that defense contractor she worked for.

Cat raced out of her room and took Lori in her arms and kissed her. Lois followed and leaned in the doorframe watching with a smile on her face. Despite the little twinge of jealousy she still had in the back of her mind, Lois really liked seeing and sensing Cat so happy, even if it was with someone besides her. And she could feel it. Whenever Cat was around, it was like background noise, a low level connection between them. Just enough so Lois could tell how Cat was feeling, in general. Cat could sense Lois like that too, but mostly just when they touched, which had surprised Lois who hadn't known humans had even that much potential telepathic sensitivity.

Lois walked over. "Hi Lois." Lori greeted.

"Hey you." Lois replied as they hugged. Lori kissed her cheek a little playfully. It was kind of a little of a dare for her, she mainly did it to show Cat she trusted her. Lori had come to kind of realize she took the two of them as a set somehow. Which made Lois happy.

"You're not ready yet?" Lori turned to Cat. The two had plans to go to a party at some actress's house that night. One of the perks, or hazards (depending on how you looked at it), of dating Cat Grant was that you got invited pretty much everywhere and had to get dressed up and go out so often it got to be routine.

"You're ten minutes early." Cat answered, going over and pulling Lori away from Lois a little to kiss her again. "You can come watch me get dressed...?" She offered. As much flirting and desire as it was a clear dodge for the fact that Cat had lost track of time again, which was a little of a habit for her.

Lori licked her lips and Lois could see definite lust in her eyes. "Um, no, we'd never leave if I did that I think." She sighed "Go. Lois and I will talk about you behind your back while I wait." Lori kissed her again and slid her hands over Cat's body a little then let her go.

Cat moaned a little (wanting to follow Lori to kiss some more obviously), but then answered "'Kay" and went off to her room, obviously not worried about being talked about behind her back, more focused on feeling happy.

Lori took Lois's hand and led her to the couch. "So... what's she been saying to you about me?" Lori asked.

Lois smiled. "That you're sexy as hell and she wants to tie you to her bed and make love to you over and over again?"

Lori laughed. "Other than that."

"Oh, um, well... That I can't tell you." Lois answered.

"Really? You're not exactly known for being tight-lipped about anything other than a story you're writing Lois Lane, what's going on?" Lori always called her Lois, not J'onn, because she didn't want to get the names mixed up in public and because, really, she seemed so much the human woman to Lori it was a little hard not to see her that way for her.

"Nothing bad. You'll like it." Lois replied, smiling.

"Uh-huh. Likely story. Fine. So, I hear you had an orgy while we were gone?" Lori asked, only a hint of a playful smile showing on her lips.

"I like 'foursome' better to describe it, but yeah... it was..." She smiled as in remembered satisfaction at the happy memory. "Very memorable. Erica and I are dating now."

"And you're dating this Clark Kent guy tonight too? Busy lady, you are." Lori observed.

Lois sighed. "Yeah, you've definitely got it better though." Lois answered. "I just want it to be over so I know which one of them's right for me..." She looked down at her hands. "I don't want to be left without a mate when... um, well, I've just been thinking about it lately more and more... I want to have a family again one day..." Lori wiped tears from her cheeks Lois hadn't fully realized she'd cried.

"Hey..." Lori comforted softly.

"Are you going to have children with her? Do you want to, I mean?" Lois asked.

Lori sighed and took Lois's hand in hers to show support. "I want to... someday... I'm just not sure when she'd be ready for that again, you know? And she's more important than... anything, to me."

Lois smiled. "Yeah, and that's -just- how it's supposed to be. As... completely lacking in words as I am to say how much losing my children still hurts me; losing my partner, M'Yri'ah... it hurts... more." She admitted.

Lori didn't say anything, she just lay her head on Lois's shoulder and closed her eyes. Lois closing her eyes too.

Cat came out a few minutes later and they both smiled to see her. Cat had getting ready for events like this in record time down to an art. Lori got up and went over and kissed her, humming a little. "You look so fuckable right now." Lori told, mussing Cat's a little unruly hair and sighing as she leaned in close and smelled her. She always reminded Lori of sunshine and fresh air, and the feelings of freedom and peace she'd gotten when she'd come to live in the surface world for good those years ago. To Lori, Cat was everything good and to be treasured about this new world made manifest.

Cat giggled a little. "Cussing is bad."

"So am I... but just for you." Lori told, kissing her neck before moving away slowly and smiling to her. "Shall we go?"

"Yeah." Cat answered, obviously enchanted.

"Bye, Lois." Lori bid, virtually dragging a surprised Cat to the door.

"See ya tomorrow." Cat echoed helplessly.

Lois went to the door and said. "Have a good time!"

"You too!" Cat called back.

Lois sighed and went to get ready herself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	4. Lois And Clark

PART 4: LOIS AND CLARK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- J'ONN (continued) ---

A half hour later found Lois waiting to be seated at Marco's, a nice, mid-priced up-scale Italian restaurant. Clark came in the door, rushing. He made it just in time not to be late. Typical Clark, Lois smiled. Always rushing off here or there. Not that she was much better.

"Hey Clark." Lois went over and hugged him experimentally.

"Um, hey Lois..." Clark replied, returning the hug after a beat. "Been waiting long?"

"Mm, about three minutes." She answered, internally kicking herself for being so accurate. Martians had an innate knack for keeping track of time's passing in their minds, it was effortless, and, of everything, still tripped her up a little pretending to be human.

"That's good..." Clark smiled as their eyes met, his hands on her arms, her hands on his waist. They moved closer and kissed. Lois closed her eyes and felt a thrill go through her. She moved closer to him. The energy just seemed to pour out of him in waves, an energy that wasn't that different from her own actually. A lot more similar to a Martian than a human at least, though definitely... not Martian. More like... sunlight... His scent was like that too; like the best of a hot summer's day.

A waiter coughed discretely, and they parted. Lois looked at the man expectantly.

"Your, uh, your table is ready, Ms. Lane." He offered. The place was very busy, and other people were waiting besides them.

"Thanks." She answered him. She looked at Clark and saw he was a little dumbfounded. "Clark?" She smiled.

"Huh? Um, oh, yeah. Table's ready. Um, let's go." He smiled.

Lois smiled back. "Some kiss, huh?" She observed as they followed the waiter.

"Some kiss." Clark echoed, looking at her in a new way, like he was just seeing her for the first time a little.

An hour or so later, their food was gone. The waiter had given them a desert menu, but they were too involved in their conversation to consider desert one way or another at the moment. "I think governments will always make a mess of things as long as people keep letting them be run by the people who want to run them, is what I think." Lois told, gazing into Clark's eyes. The conversation had turned to areas of social injustice, which Clark was heavily interested in. Lois, herself, didn't really much care. Or, she did, she just didn't think it was her place to interfere or stand in judgment. After all, Martian government had been much more merit-based that Earth governments were--much more social equality, no poor or disenfranchised citizens to speak of--and yet their society had ended in virtual extinction all the same.

"So, you're a meritocrat, is what I'm hearing?" He assessed. They were both flirting shamelessly back and forth by now with their body language and social cues and Lois was very much thinking she had a good chance of getting him into bed tonight.

Lois shrugged. "I guess. I don't really like to get into that sort of thing."

Clark smiled. "Which is why you'd be perfect for it?" He teased.

Lois's smile widened. "Exactly." She answered. "Just don't tell anyone. I so don't want that responsibility."

Clark just shook his head a little. "Secret's safe with me."

"Yeah, um, hey, Clark, can we get out of here? Some of the staff's giving us dirty looks. I think they want the table." She observed.

"Yeah, probably a good idea." Clark agreed, standing up and motioning to a nearby waiter to bring them the bill. He paid it and Lois didn't object. She knew the real Lois probably would, but Lois wouldn't date Clark in the first place and she honestly didn't care, more thinking of saving up her money for that penthouse apartment with the swimming pool than anything--and a free dinner was nothing to sneeze at.

A few minutes later, they walked out from the building's lobby onto the street. "So, your place or mine?" Lois asked.

"For what?" Clark asked, a little distracted.

"Sex. Your place or mine, for sex, Clark." Lois smiled, turning to him and taking his hands in hers. "I want to make love with you tonight, okay?" She explained softly.

Clark opened his mouth, closed it, shook his head a little and smiled. "I'm not sure that's a good idea." He answered, meeting her eyes. "I want things to work out with you, Lois. I don't want to rush things... I think we really might have something good between us."

"Me too. Why would making love be a problem for that though? Trust me, Clark. The best way for things not to work out between us is if you turn me down. Sex, making love, it's important to me, it's how I'll know if this is really meant to be with us, or if, if we should just be friends." She told him honestly, She hadn't been planning on forcing the issue like this of course, but Clark had really gotten to her and she wanted to be with him intensely right now. "I want to feel your skin next to mine tonight... If you make me go home alone, we're done." She told, looking intensely into his eyes to let him know she was serious about this. Because she was. Besides her growing attraction to Clark, the fact that Cat was probably getting married soon had her feeling this aching kind of needy for some reason. The idea of not having someone while Cat did, it was torturous. And she really did want to have Clark as a lover, not just a friend. The idea of having to wait through another dinner like tonight, looking at him across a table like he was food and she was hungry, without being able to touch him, it was just not something she wanted to do. She'd rather just commit to Erica right now if that was her choice, she realized. At least then it would be done with.

"Lois..." Clark pleaded.

"I mean it, Clark." She told. "I like you a lot, but I don't feel like playing a waiting game, alright?"

"If you really wanted me for me, you'd be willing to wait." Clark replied softly.

Anger flared up in her. "Fine! Be that way." She answered, turning around. "Goodbye Clark, thanks for dinner. Hope it was worth it." She stormed off, her emotions roiling inside. She felt really horrible, hurting. Maybe she'd try again with him some other time if things didn't work out with Erica, but right now she just wanted to fly off somewhere and be alone for a while until Erica got back from Spain so she wouldn't be a danger to those around her. Fuck, she really wanted Cat to be at home waiting for her right now. It was driving her a little crazy, she knew it. She wanted her so much, but she couldn't have her. Not like she wanted.

"Lois... Lois, wait damn it!" Clark came rushing after her hand grabbed her arm.

She looked at him and felt like she might hit him if he said something stupid again. "What." She spoke, oddly more a statement than a question somehow.

Clark just kissed her. Lois stiffened up at that at first, still mad at him, but then she relaxed and let herself enjoy the kiss, kissing him back with enthusiasm.

"Either one's... Ether one's fine." Clark told her.

"Either one what?" Lois asked, happily looking into his eyes and having been thinking of the fastest way to get him undressed.

"Your place or mine." Clark told meaningfully.

"Where do you live?" Lois asked.

"Brookline." Clark answered.

"Mine's closer." Lois smiled, the victory feeling stupidly good to her. Despite knowing how foolish it was, his rejection had stung a lot. "Come on." She dragged him over to the street. "Taxi!" She called, feeling like a weight had been lifted.

Clark laughed a little as one came over and Lois practically dragged him in with her. He landed a little over her and she smiled at him and pushed him up so they righted themselves. "Driver?" Lois told him her address and proceeded to take Clark by the collar and kiss him.

\--- KAL ---

Lois had climbed onto his lap and was kissing him, taking her time. It was sensuous and exciting, he felt like... he belonged with her somehow. He felt himself get hard a little and pushed her away. "Lois, please..." She was so easy to talk with, but, he was getting the idea that being in a romantic relationship with her was going to be a lot more stormy if he wasn't careful. And, honestly, he wasn't the type of guy who liked stormy all that much. Adventure, fun, excitement? Sure. Stormy? No.

"Huh? Mm, whatever." She asked, snuggling up to him. "This is good too."

He put his arms around her and tried to think this through. Something else was going on here besides just him and her, he could tell that easily enough. He was a little apprehensive about saying anything though. Right now though, he really felt like he should. "Lois, what's this about? Really? I can tell something more than me wanting to wait has you upset."

"That's true." Lois admitted. "My best friend's getting married soon." She told him.

"Okay... and why's that a problem?" He asked.

"It's not. Or it shouldn't be, I guess. The woman she's marrying is great, I really like her..." Lois started to explain.

"But... you wish it was you, don't you?" Clark ventured, understanding finally coming. He was even more sure sleeping with Lois was a bad idea now; but really, he was smart enough to tell she was way too stubborn. If he said no right now, she'd probably refuse to give him another chance with her, for a good while at least, out of pride or something. By then, she might find someone else and it would be too late. Or she might just deicide that men were a bad idea altogether, and that would really shut the door. And, well, it wasn't like making love to her would be some big sacrifice on his part. Part of him thought he was kind of being a farm boy in the big city about this. Even having traveled so far and wide and done so much, he still had a little insecurity about that. About people seeing him as naïve because of where he came from and what his values were. It bothered him a little. One thing was for sure though, his heart just wasn't willing to let him give up on the idea of being with Lois Lane.

"Honestly? Yeah. But it's almost certainly not going to happen. I just... I don't want her to have someone while I don't. It would hurt too much." She explained. "But don't think that means I'm just settling for you or something, that's not it at all. I really like you, Clark. I think I could fall in love with you so easily for some reason... I've got to be honest with you though, I am dating someone else besides you now, Erica Del Portenza, and it's kind of serious. But, she knows about you, so it's not cheating."

Clark lay his head back on the seat, "Great..." He remarked. "I'm really not that okay with this, Lois, I have to tell you."

"So tell the driver to let you out of the cab, Clark. No one's forcing you to be with me." She countered. "I know I have issues and baggage, I'm not pretending otherwise. It's your choice."

Clark was silent. This was crazy. But he still couldn't bring himself to do what Lois dared him to and tell the cabby to stop. He smiled and looked at her. "Well, I must have baggage and issues too, because I'm not going anywhere." He answered somewhat reluctantly, kissing her and feeling that instant chemistry between them go through him. He didn't know how to explain it, Lois just felt so right to him. Even just talking with her over dinner, or walking down the street and not saying anything, they just clicked so much. He felt like he could talk with her for hours. Lana was the only other person that had ever been true for, but Lois definitely wasn't Lana. Lois wasn't like anyone he'd ever met before. Although, come to think of it, she did remind him a little of his cousin for some reason. Not that they had similar personalities, just something about being around them felt... similar. Weird.

Lois smiled. "Good answer." She snuggled up to him and kissed his neck softly, under his ear. He felt a little shiver go through him, and suddenly sharing a bed with her seemed like the only thing in the world he wanted to do right then. He moved up off the seat a little and captured her lips in a kiss. She kissed back immediately and he felt like he was losing himself to something that was growing between them, and he really didn't mind, he just wanted to be kissing her.

\--- LORI ---

Lori smiled as she watched Cat talking with a group of socialites, including a CEO and a congresswoman, and getting on like they were all old friends. She'd joined in on the socializing as best she could for the first hour or so, playing the dutiful/adoring plus one, but when Janice Covington started talking about her collection of antique vases at length, she'd politely made her excesses and decided to take a break to clear her head before heading back into the fray. It -also- afforded her the opportunity to engage in one of her favorite pass-times of late: watching Cat. Oh, she was sure she probably looked rather dreamy eyed and maybe even head-over-heels in love to anyone who noticed, but that was a cross she was willing to bear.

She was feeling thirsty again though, so she went to get a refill on her water glass--one of the perils of being a mermaid out of water, that you had to make sure to stay hydrated all the time or you could very easily find yourself with a case of something close to what heat-stoke was like for a human (really not fun, in other words).

As she switched out her glass for another though, she noticed a couple making a late arrival, and she could hardly have failed to recognize one of them--Ron Troupe. Her eyes narrowed and she felt tension come over her. She knew it wasn't really justified... or it was for the fact that he was her girlfriend’s ex, but not for why she was really uncomfortable--because of her own bad experience with her own ex. Human psychological theory termed it 'transference', she knew that, knew it wasn't really about Ron, but about Ronal (the two names really were far too similar for her tastes)--knowing that didn't make the pit of tension and anxiety in her stomach feel much better though. She couldn't help it, she saw him and she just thought: threat, danger, escape. She stubbornly put a rein on those thoughts though, set her shoulders, and went over to say hello to the late arrivals. Because--good guy who wouldn't hurt a fly or not, she wanted to know why Cat's ex, whom Cat had told her once didn't like going to these sorts of parties at all, was here.

She walked over to Ron and his date. "Hello, fancy meeting you here." She greeted Ron, trying to keep the weary suspicion from her voice.

"Lori... I, hello." He greeted in return, casting a look around the room--looking for Cat, Lori had to assume.

"Hell, I'm Lisa, Lisa Harrington. Pleasure to meet you?" His date greeted.

Lori caught the look in her eyes and swallowed, a little frozen in place a moment. The look was gone in an instant, so fast Lori half-wondered weather she'd actually seen what she'd thought she had. "Right, pleasure..." Lori replied, looking at her skeptically somehow. There was definitely something off about this woman. For some reason, she was now sure she had more to worry about from her than from Ron Troupe, and that was definitely worrying. On the surface this Lisa woman was polite, solicitous, and beautiful enough to look at, but there was just something... not right there.

"Everything okay over here?" Cat asked, coming up next to her.

Lori smiled, relieved to have Cat with her again. "Um, yeah, I guess so..." She glanced uncertainly at Lisa Harrington again a moment, then sort of shook herself out of it a little. She didn't normally use her telepathic abilities on someone else without a reason, mostly because she usually didn't like what she found out, but she was tempted to use them on this woman now. Somehow though, she got the definite feeling that would not be a good idea at all--she couldn't exactly tell where that feeling came from, but she felt she should respect it and not try.

"Ron, gotta say, I certainly never expected to see you at one of these things again. But then, I never would have pegged you and Lisa Harrington as a likely match, either. What happened there?" She directed this to both of them.

"Oh, Cat, you know me. I'm never predictable, even to myself, right?" Lisa replied.

"Yeah, guess so." Cat replied. "Anyway, I'm... I'm happy for you Ron, for both of you." Cat told them; she, apparently, not sensing anything amiss about Lisa Harrington at all. They seemed to know each other in fact--which shouldn't have been a surprise of course; it seemed like Cat knew almost anyone with any sort of notoriety at all in this city (and this being the world's largest city, that was certainly saying something).

"Thanks... That means a lot, Cat." Ron replied.

Lori had met Ron twice before now, and, while she wouldn't describe him as at all warm towards her, or even towards Cat especially, Lori didn't doubt that Ron meant what he'd just said. It was plain to see after all, that, though whatever feelings of romantic love had existed between the two were firmly in the past... burred right along with their dead son, she supposed... that there was still a bond there--they still cared for one another, even though they couldn't really much stand to be around each other for very long anymore.

Cat smiled. "Well, yeah. Um, anyway, I'm afraid I had an ulterior motive for coming over here: I need my date back; there's some people I've promised to introduce her to, and I do love showing her off, you know." Cat explained to them, flirting with her a little in the process, which was appreciated, but not so much as was the excuse to disengage from this very awkward seeming situation she'd somehow found herself in.

"Oh, well, don't let us keep you... I'm sure we'll have the opportunity catch up very soon, Cat. I just have a sense about these things, you know?" Lisa replied.

Cat smiled and shook her head. "Yeah, but that's usually only after you've had a few." She joked.

"Oh, that's the old me. I'm turning over a whole new leaf these days, you just wait and see." Lisa spoke as they departed to go meet up with whomever it was Cat had been referring to when she'd said she'd wanted to introduce her to someone. She sighed--she might have known it wasn't just an excuse to save her. Oh well, such were the perils of dating a society columnist, she supposed.

An hour or later though, as they were leaving the party and getting into an elevator to take them down to the parking garage, Lori couldn't help but broach the subject of their encounter with Ron and Lisa with Cat. "I don't know how to describe it exactly... I guess I just felt like... I'd crossed paths with a shark maybe."

"Lisa Harrington? A shark?" Cat asked a little incredulously. "Lori, she'd fifth generation cotton money. Her mom's an heiress who doesn't even bother with running the company she owns anymore and her dad doesn't even bother running the airline -his- family owns. She's never had to earn a paycheck a day in her life, and she hasn't tried it as a hobby either. If she saw a real shark? I think she'd probably faint. We can't be talking about the same woman."

Lori shook her head a little. "Trust me, Cat. She's dangerous somehow. Trust me on this." She replied, somehow not at all swayed by Cat's assurances that her fears were unfounded.

"Yeah, well... I have to admit, there -was- something kinda different about her tonight..." Cat admitted. "And it's not like we really stay in touch much anymore. We used to run in the same circles more than we do now... I guess she could have changed. And I do trust your hunches Lori. If you really think she's dangerous somehow, I'll try to steer clear or stay on my guard around her from now on, promise."

Lori felt relieved to hear that. "Thanks..." She replied softly, leaning against Cat's shoulder as the elevator stopped at the second floor for someone to get out. "It matters a lot that you have faith in me, you know."

"I'll always have faith in you." Cat told her, moving to kiss her. "Always." She repeated softly after the kiss ended.

Lori melted a little inside and sighed happily. "I love you." She pledged.

"Love you too." Cat said moving in to kiss her again.

Lori felt her body ease into place against her lover's without conscious thought, letting herself thoroughly enjoy just being kissed by the woman she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

That lasted until the elevator delivered them and another couple who were in the elevator with them, but both pretty out of it from having a few too many, to the sub-level parking garage. Lori smiled and broke the kiss, taking Cat's hand and exiting the elevator with her, the two of them heading over to where Lori's car was parked. "You know, despite the whole Lisa Harrington oddness, I had a really nice time tonight. Thank you." Lori told her honestly. And it was true--true also that it did get to be a little much for her every now and then, but mostly just true that it was also fun, and really nice to have the woman she loved ask her out on the town all the time. She particularly enjoyed the dances.

Cat giggled a little. "And you really mean that, don't you?" She replied happily.

"Yeah, of course I do." Lori replied.

"That is just so... nice!" She explained. Stopping and turning towards Lori, just having come within sight of her car. "Everything about you is nice, perfect even. As far as I'm concerned at least..." Cat told her, caressing her face and hair gently with one hand and looking into her eyes; love, warmth, and trust showing so clearly in those pale blue depths. Cat's eyes always reminded her of the ocean somehow, of everything good and wondrous about where she'd came from. They also reminded her of the open sky, too...

Lori moved in and kissed her, in a nicely unhurried but very, very enjoyable way. She hummed as the kiss broke. "Mm, likewise." She replied, feeling good all over. Like she'd finally found someone she completely belonged with.

They gazed into one another's eyes a moment more, before heading back over to the car by mutual consent. Lori considered the back seat thoughtfully, because she was definitely in the mood to work out some tension, and definitely, definitely in the mood to be amorous. Still, as she opened the passenger side door for Cat and kissed her again before allowing her to sit down inside, she decided against suggesting it. It was passably comfortable, but awkward; especially with dresses and heals to contend with, not to mention the possibility of someone passing by and noticing them (an idea which did -not- appeal in the slightest), so she sighed and decided it was probably better to just wait until they got back to Cat's place, and hope Lois wasn't there alone and in the mood for conversation or something (she liked talking with Lois, but not nearly as much as she enjoyed having her way with Cat).

"Um, you know... Lois suggested something to me the other day..." Cat began as Lori got into the driver's seat and was buckling her seatbelt.

"Mm, what's that?" Lori asked absently as she searched her purse for her keys, finding them easily.

"That we could maybe, um, you know, get a place together. A bigger place; you know, with a pool and..." She trailed off looking over to her a little uncertainly, trying to gauge her reaction probably. You could tell she was uncertain because of the way she was talking (kind of like a nervous teenager)... She did that when she was unsure of herself, Lori had learned (she thought it was kind of cute; adorable actually).

"So, we'd all be roommates then." Lori ventured, finding the idea odd. Obviously. Her people didn't do that sort of thing, and she wouldn't have thought surface-dwellers did either, as a rule (though she'd never actually thought about it of course). Still, off the top of her head, she couldn't think of a reason why it would be a bad idea... beyond the obvious one of course--that Lois was still kind of in love with girlfriend.

"Well, yeah... um, like, once she settles down with someone. Either Clark or Erica I guess, that we could double up that way... It's unusual I know, but... the more I thought about it, the more I... really liked the idea." She admitted.

Lori studied her silently a moment, a little at a loss. "Okay... well, I don't think it's a horrible idea or anything. Is it, um, is it okay if I take some time to think about it?" Lori asked, going over it again in her mind even as she spoke.

"Of course! Take all the time you want." She answered comfortingly.

Lori smiled to her to let her know everything was okay, then started the car.

"I like the idea of having bigger pool though." She spoke, thinking out loud that it would definitely be a plus to be able to afford a bigger one than the one she had--it always made her feel a little cramped. The weekend visits to the Ocean that she took, lately with Cat and sometimes Lois in tow, the only thing that made it really manageable. She'd tried to tempt Lois to shape-shift into a mermaid once, so she'd have someone to really swim with again, but she'd turned her down, saying she had to keep her shape to keep up her ruse, on the chance it could still help locate Lois... though privately, Lori thought it was probably a lost cause by this point (still, she hadn't said that to her of course).

"Knew you'd like that at least." Cat agreed.

"...Do you really think Lois is going to settle down with one of them though?" Lori asked.

"Sure. I mean, why wouldn't she?" Cat ventured.

Privately Lori wondered if Cat really didn't know the answer to that--that maybe Lois was still holding out hope for her.

"Well, Erica Del Portenza is a catch, no doubt..." Lori answered instead. "Can you imagine the kind of place we'd be living in if she was our roommate? Of course, then I'd have to tell her about being a mermaid. I really don't know much about her, besides what's in the papers and stuff. Have you met her?" Lori asked.

"Oh, sure, a few times. She seems nice enough; definitely has a way with women, I can tell you that much." Cat informed, recalling that look Erica could give you that had really actually made her feel like she might swoon when she'd been on the receiving end that once. She'd been married to Ron at the time though, so she hadn't given in to temptation... even though she'd definitely thought about it. "But what about Clark?"

Lori shook her head. "He's a male." She responded simply, hedging against having to explain what she meant by that.

Of course Cat wasn't going to let her get away with it. "What's that got to do with it?"

"...I thought we agreed about this?" Lori asked.

"About what?" Cat asked back.

"Men just aren't good mates for women... I really believe that." Lori told her honestly.

"Oh... well, I guess I can see why you'd think that..." Cat quietly conceded.

"You don't?" Lori asked, a little confused about that. She'd thought they'd talked about this and that they thought the same way.

"Well, I know a man isn't right for me as a mate. I know it was a... it was a mistake marrying Ron like I did. Even though I... I wouldn't have wanted to have never have known our son... But I don't, I just don't know if that's true for everyone. It's like... how could I know that? And, um, Clark seems nice. I like him."

"I'm sure he is..." Lori replied quietly. She really didn't like talking about this very much.

Cat sighed. "Sorry, can we maybe talk about something else?" She asked hopefully.

Lori smiled over to her. "Yeah, I was thinking that too." She agreed with relief.

\--- J'ONN ---

She led him into her and Cat's apartment by the hand, only letting him go to hang up her coat, put down her purse, and lock the door. She went right back to him and took his hand again. "Bedroom's this way." She smiled to him.

He followed along silently, their eyes holding one another's. Once she led him into her room, she shut the door behind her and leaned back against the door, looking at him. "Take off your clothes, Clark." She told him.

He smiled, starting to do just that. Lois tried to watch some as she got out of her own clothes, but she was in a hurry to be naked with him, it was like there was a magnetic pull coming from him, telling her to touch him. Once she was undressed, she pushed him on the bed and helped him take off his pants. "Too slow, lover." She admonished playfully, getting on top of him and kissing him once he was as naked as her. She felt his sex get hard between them and it did make her excited; it was something new, she hadn't ever experienced this before. Martian sex was really far removed from what it meant for humans, so there really wasn't too much comparison. She remembered her one time in college, Lois's one time at least, but that had been bad, and she remembered Cat's sex life too, but she wasn't Cat, didn't want to be that passive with Clark, she wanted to own him somehow, make him hers.

Physically, they were a good match. He was an inch or two taller and a little bulkier, probably from all that farm work she thought internally with a little amusement, but they were close to the same generally, besides gender and hair length, and she was finding out as he rolled over to be on top of her, that they seemed to complement each other. His eyes were stormy but so bright and magnetic to her, and his skin was kind of all golden in a way she'd never seen in humans before. Like sunlight lived inside him and wouldn't let him be any other way. She rolled him over on his back again and held him down, kissing his neck. The length of his sex was pushing up against her crotch like a pole now and she liked how it felt, she ground against him, stroking his arms and nipping at his skin.

"Lois..." He spoke her name.

Lois moved up and captured his lips in a fierce kiss. She didn't want to talk anymore, they'd done enough of that at dinner, now was the time for love, touch; non-verbal communication in other words. It was a struggle to keep her mind in check though with him, his thoughts were like a siren--bright, rushing, vivid, beautiful. It required a lot of concentration on her part to keep her mind from going into his, when she wanted to dare it's speeding brightness and plunge in, know everything of him, share everything of herself. But that wasn't to be tonight. "Don't talk, just look into my eyes, say what you want that way..." She whispered to him, getting up a little and meeting his gaze. It was like a spark. An electric circuit closing between them. Nothing of words or thoughts, just a... nameless understanding. Lois got up further and slid her sex over his, experimentally at first, then driving him deep into herself. She cried out and heard him moan, but she stubbornly kept her eyes focused on his, smiling as she began to move with him. She moved her hands from holding his arms to holding his hands, and just moved over him, with him. She had been so right, that shy-guy routine of his was definitely all an act. The way he was moving in bed with her, yielding when she asked for it, yet sure of himself; strong, yet so graceful and giving... in other words, pretty damn close to perfect...

Her mouth opened more, her back arched, and she cried out as he came inside her and she came with him. It was such an effort to keep eye contact, but she did, and he did too. She smiled to him as she came down from that intense wave of pleasure. He smiled back. "Okay, so we're compatible." She admitted. "And then some..." She added more softly.

"I'll say." He smiled an laid back, closing his eyes.

She slipped herself off of his sex and lay down over him, snuggling up and starting to kiss him. He held her and kissed her back. She brought her hand down to his sex and noticed it was still fairly aroused, wet with their fluids. She stroked it and smiled. "I like the stamina." She complemented softly.

"I have plenty of that." Clark answered just as softly. "Do you?"

Lois smiled and hummed a little. "Plenty."

\--- KAL ---

Some time later, Clark found his face between Lois's legs, giving her oral sex. He had one leg bent up and Lois was sucking on his sex at the same time, and it was driving him wild how good it felt. How good it all felt. His mind was awash with sensations--emotions swirling around--and something, he could feel coming from Lois, something... she was holding back from him, something big. He could tell, she hadn't really let herself go all the way, even during orgasm. He couldn't guess what it was, but he could hardly cast aspersions, as he had been doing the same thing. Holding back his strength and power. His body was running hot, but he kept it cooler; he wanted to just let go, but he knew that would kill her. She was in no danger of that though; it was like flying for him, or driving a car for a normal man maybe. Intellectually, it would be such a small mistake to run into a building, run your car off the road, but practically, you just wouldn't do that. And it wasn't a hard thing not to do for him, even when making love. It was just instinct. It shouldn't be possible, but it was. It shouldn't be possible for him to do a lot of things, but it still was somehow.

This was... different... somehow though. Easier, like he was somehow, instinctually, just not worried about that with Lois. Every time he felt like he might be exerting just that little bit too much pressure here or there, the micro-movements in Lois's body language didn't respond somehow, like she genuinely didn't notice at all. And how she'd held him down before, there was nothing he could put his finger on about it, but it was just... powerful. Her presence was like that for him most of the time--intense, powerful, yet she made him feel so at peace in the final equation. So at home with her. In a way he didn't even quite feel with Kara or her daughter, who were his actual related-by-blood family.

He felt himself coming in her mouth, so hot and wet. She was sucking him, then licking him off next, and he rolled her over and spread her legs more, intent on pleasing her in return. It didn't take much more. He could tell she was holding back her orgasm to make the pleasure last longer, but now that she wasn't so intent on him, she soon could hold back no more and was coming for him... She tasted amazing, too. And her scent... and that shock of thrill that went through him at hearing her cry out for him in pleasure, of that play of energy between them...

Lois was on him again all too quickly then, rolling him over and kissing him again. He loved kissing this woman though, he could do it for hours, he was sure. Soon, her hand was on his sex again though, and he brought his hand to hers, playing inside her. Time just seemed to blend together--he couldn't tell how soon it was, but they were coming together again before too long. Breathing hard, he held her, and she held him. He felt so deeply satisfied like he'd never completely felt before.

More lazy kisses. "Tell me something about you?" Lois asked softly, nipping a little at his ear.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, happy they were talking again. He kind of got the idea that Lois had still been kind of upset with him for refusing her initially, but now she seemed to have gotten over it enough to really talk to him again. He hoped the talking would get them back to where they were at the restaurant, as far as that easy rapport between them. It was a certain kind of trust that he wanted back, especially now, after... making love so beautifully...

"Anything you want to tell me, Clark. I just want to know more about you... Where you grew up, who you love, what you want for the future... Anything." She explained softly, laying her head next to him on the pillow and snuggling up to him.

He smiled. That feeling of trust was coming back, even stronger than before, he could feel it in how she touched him somehow. "Well, I guess if someone really wanted to know about me, the first thing they'd need to know would be that I'm an orphan, twice over in fact." He admitted softly.

"Tell me." She offered.

"...I never knew my parents, my birth parents. Sometimes I think I can remember things about them, but really, I was only a baby. I... found pictures of them, later in life." He explained, his voice soft and far away, even to him. There was so much... loss... in him. Mostly, he tried to just... set it aside, and live anyway. But, when he really thought about it, like now, it was... kind of overwhelming to him. He felt almost like a child again, in the face of it.

"And your adoptive parents?" Lois asked gently.

"Also dead, when I was eight. Them, I remember clearly." He smiled. "Jonathan and Martha Kent. Two kinder, more good-hearted people you're not likely to meet." He related, his accent slipping a little on the folksy side without him intending for it to have. "I remember my dad, my adoptive dad, I remember him carrying me on his shoulders and telling me I could be anything I wanted in life. My mom would say, 'so make sure you want something you'll be happy with' and rubbing my hair."

Lois ran her hand through his hair, rubbing it a little. It made him smile. "She wasn't quite as gentle about it as you." He told.

Lois really went to town, messing up his hair as thoroughly as possible, the both of them laughing as Clark tried to get back at her and they just ended up kissing more. He sighed as Lois moved away and snuggled up to him again. He held her and hummed a little.

"That was fun." Lois spoke softly, affectionately.

"Yeah, it was, huh?" Clark replied. "So, what about you, Lois Lane? Have anything you want to tell me back? About you... Where you grew up, who you love, what you want for the future... Anything?" He echoed her question with a little of a smile.

She pushed at him a little and nipped at his ear.

"Fair's fair." Clark pointed out.

"Fair is far." Lois echoed, getting up so she was directly over him and kissing him then skootching down a little and looking into his eyes, chin supported by her hands, supported by his chest. "I'm... I'm half an orphan, I guess. My... my mother died when I was young. I had to mostly raise my sister, Lucy, myself. My dad was military. Big, bad, General Lane. Could shake the walls with his voice when he wanted, but he never did with us, not until I was older and decided to give up on my designs on being a fighter pilot or a navy seal in favor of being a reporter and a civilian. Air force or navy? Bad enough. But press core?" She laughed. "He got over it though I think. Mostly."

"So, he was a good father then?" Clark asked.

"He was great, kind of, well, as far as he was able. He wasn't really cut out for it, is what I think. Being a dad? Especially to two girls. One of who was constantly challenging him whenever she thought her opinion was right and his was wrong... I'm talking about my sister, Lucy, when I say that, obviously."

Clark laughed. "Oh, obviously." He played along.

"No, yeah, that's me--rebel with a cause. More than one cause usually. But, you can relate to that, huh?" She touched his lips with her fingers.

He nipped at them a little and sucked one into his mouth. She hummed happily and watched him. "I can." He answered, letting go.

"Hmmm... You are so hot for a boy." She joked.

"Oh, is that how it's going to be?" He asked, mock-offended, able to tell there wasn't some underlying truth to what she'd said for her, that she was just playing with him. "I guess I'll just have to work on being so hot for a girl then, won't I?"

"I wouldn't complain." Lois smiled playfully, kissing him. "I could totally dig you in a little pink skirt and stuff, actually."

"Um, right; maybe for our second date." He joked, having no intention of following through. "So... um, what happened to your sister then? Fighter jet pilot?" Clark asked, not quite ready to stop talking.

There was a noise from the apartment that was Cat and Lori doing something. They'd gotten back a while ago. "Mm, no, she's a lobbyist for a defense contractor now. Though she does belong to the national guard. He's proud of her. Me? Not so sure." She smiled, though he could tell it still hurt her just a little to think about that.

He smiled. "He'd have to be blind, illiterate, and an idiot not to be." He answered confidently, kissing her.

"Mm..." She smiled. "Let's make love again, okay?" She kissed him back.

He hummed. "Okay with me." He agreed softly as she pulled him on top of her. He smiled. "Spread for me?" He asked in her ear, running his hand over one of her legs.

"Mmm..." She captured his lips and spread her legs, drawing her knees up. He was hard and ready so easily, sliding his sex into hers. They were a perfect fit. He exhaled and felt pleasure flush through him as he buried himself deep in her, his sex growing so hard. She wrapped her legs around him and wrapped her arms around his back, her hands, fingers, trailing over his skin in slow, blissful motions. He kissed her and she kissed him back passionately, hungrily. And then he started to move into her and she met him, they fell into a rhythm so easily, matched each other so well. Her breasts pressed against his chest, her legs tightened around him and he felt a thrill go through him. He stopped kissing her ear and lifted his head up to meet her eyes. She smiled to him and met his gaze as they made love and climbed their way towards climax.

He saw it in her eyes and felt it in his sex that she was about to come and so he thrust into her one final time and felt her start to come just as he started to come into her. They kept eye contact, and it was about the most deeply erotic feeling he'd ever felt just looking into her eyes like this when they were so exposed to one another. The intimacy was intense, but in her eyes it looked so easy for her, like she wanted even more of him, to have even more between them. He had very good intuition usually, and that feeling he had that Lois was holding something back was even more strong now. Still, he ignored it and kissed her, his sex still inside her as the orgasm wore off.

She squeezed him with her legs again and kissed him back, rolling them over so she was on top, then breaking the kiss and getting up to straddle him, his sex still buried in hers. She started to move and he felt like his whole body was electrified, little sparks going off under his skin. She moved harder and he felt his sex grow longer and fuller again inside her. He brought his hands to her hips and she ran her hands over his chest, forward and back in deliberate, sensuous movements. She smiled at him, their eyes locked, and he saw that smile so bright in her eyes, he couldn't help but smile back as she ground herself onto him, starting to move harder. He felt himself moan in complete pleasure. It was so amazing, the energy he felt from her. Like they could do this all night.

As it turned out though, a half-hour later, Lois was snuggled up to him, her hand stroking his sex a little and then moving up to his hair. She kissed him. "Time to sleep, I think." She spoke. Snuggling up to him. "You want to go a gallery or something with me tomorrow?" She asked softly.

A smile spread over his lips. "What kind of a question is that? Of course I do." He answered, kissing her chastely. "I want to know you, Lois Lane. A lot more than I already do." The way he was feeling right now, he meant that so much. He felt like he'd do just about anything for this woman, follow her anywhere she asked him.

He was pretty sure he'd fallen hopelessly in love with her, in fact. The last thought he had before he fell asleep cuddled up close with her was of a sharp feeling of pain when he thought of Erica Del Portenza laying like this with his lover this way. And he realized, he felt jealous. Territorial even. He didn't think he'd ever felt that way before.

\--- D'KAY ---

D'kay D'ranzz was in bed with Ron Troupe, on her hands and knees over him, watching in fascination as he slept. "You're a strange, lost sort of thing... I understand feeling lost. I feel it too... Would you like me to show you?" She asked him, digging deeply into his mind again with little care for the trauma it was causing him. It was fun for her, a way to keep herself occupied, learning what made humans tick. Being with them, if only for the short times they could tolerate her full attentions...

There had been a number of gruesome murders in Ron's neighborhood recently too, that demonstrated other ways that she liked to dig through humans, dig into them to keep herself occupied.

She'd been lost for so long, you see. In this world of humans. Often, she was able to convince herself that she was one of them--not a Martian at all. Live a life, find some measure of peace, of happiness--To feel for a while like she belonged. But that escape was lost to her now, because she wasn't the last Martian. There were at least two others. The one that had woken her up from the dreams she'd liked to lose herself in was too good at hiding from her, it seemed like. But this one... J'onn J'onzz... She'd taken that name from Catherine Grant tonight.

She knew that name. A manhunter. A male. A champion. He would be strong; formidable, if it came to a struggle between them. She didn't like to think it would. She wanted to think that J'onn would love her... be with her... and they would have children together--a new Martian race--and she would have a family, a home again.

But... she had tried that before, with Cay'an M'raya, and had been rebuffed... violently... Cay'an had fled from her, shunned her. She would be a fool to think J'onn J'onzz might not think of her the same wrong, hateful things that Cay'an had. She did not want to take the chance of that happening a second time. She did not want to experience the pain of a rejection like that again. And she only had two potential mates now. If J'onn would not accept her, then she would have no more chances.

She could try to force the issue of course, but would prefer not to. It was no sure thing weather it would succeed or not. No... her best chance, it would be to woo him... 'Her' now though, wasn't it? Woo her. J'onn had transitioned to a female--perhaps she should become male then? Or, perhaps J'onn would prefer another female? She really did not know. Did not know enough.

She would have to insinuate herself into her life somehow. Study her, find her soft points, find a way to win her... seduce her...

There were obstacles though. The female from the water for one--named Lori Lemaris. She was a more advanced life form than were humans--a telepath; potentially not unformidable either, though she doubted there was much chance she would lose to her if it came to a contest. The sense she had gotten from her told her that Lori would probably back down if challenged in such a way. That was not the problem. The problem was one of discovery.

She would not be able to take the place of anyone close to J'onn without her intended mate noticing it. That was why she had taken the place of Lisa Harrington and mentally forced Ron Troupe to be her date earlier tonight. To begin to assess things from afar without taking too much of a risk. Without getting close to J'onn herself. No, she could not make her mind convincingly human enough to fool a fellow Martian, a manhunter especially. Perhaps she could be successful imitating Lori Lemaris... but no, it was still too much of a risk. Lori and Cat where J'onn's friends, he cared for them. It would not endear her to her to slay one of them. Besides, she had been able to tell that even Lori had suspected her of being other than she'd claimed. If she could not play a role well enough to convince even her in even casual circumstances like that social gathering, she had to assess her chances of fooling J'onn, even while imitating another telepath, at poor at best.

No... she would need to take her time with this. Find the best way in... Oh, but she was so restless, felt so alone... She returned her focus to Ron beneath her and went into his mind with careless force again--reordering it and changing it at whim, until his mind looked prettier to her inside, or orderly and peaceful. And then she woke him up and he saw her for the Martian she truly was, and he smiled to her with devotion and love... there was still fear there too, she couldn't erase that in him completely, but, in a disturbing way, that somehow made it all the more sweet.

"Tell me you love me, and I will show you pleasure...?" She offered him.

"Yes... I love you D'kay... with all my heart..." He told her, touching her face with his hand in a lover's caress.

She felt temptation to tear the hand, the arm off... Looked down on him and wanted to see what he looked like inside, merge with him, body and mind... if only for a fleeting second or two, before he would die from it... but she resisted the urge. There were others to use in that way. She still might need this one. So she made a sound that was half way between a purr and a growl and she kissed him, spread herself over him, around him, in him. Went into his mind and connected with brutal, overwhelming force. He gasped in pleasure and called her name before she went down his throat, through his nose. She took care to breathe for him, give him the oxygen he needed to survive...

It was not a fellow Martian, he was incapable of reciprocating as she longed for, but it was better than nothing. Having a mind to commune with like this, it did take the edge off of her loneliness, didn't it?

It would not be enough. This was nothing more than simple, brutal rape after all. There was no real love, and the connection they had was a false one, too weak to really matter to her much at all... A part of her was even quite disgusted with herself for the act...

But the truth remained, that, sad as it was, for her, it was a better choice than being alone...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	5. In The Cause Of Justice

PART 5: IN THE CAUSE OF JUSTICE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- J'ONN ---

Lois woke up snuggled up to a very warm and cuddly Clark Kent. She ran her hand over his shoulder and bicep and started kissing his neck, lazily moving herself a little against him and then as he started to wake as she began to kiss his lips. Soon he was kissing her back and she just felt this surge of joy inside her. It felt so good with him--all warm and homey somehow. Like family almost. It was a crazy feeling, but it was just like there was this wavelength between them that harmonized so easily. Maybe it was that he'd experienced so much loss in his life. Not nearly so much as her, she supposed, but they were both orphans, weren't they? Not unlike the familiarity she'd felt towards Cat... because she and Cat had both lost children. And as sad as it was, it also made her feel less alone.

She felt his sex get hard between them and she smiled, stopping her kisses. She looked at him and hummed a little. "I want to take a bath with you... I have a whirlpool?" She offered. They did smell of sex kind of. And it was early, only a little after five. They had plenty of time and Cat didn't wake up until seven-thirty or eight usually, unless Lois woke her up for some reason. So they had the bath all to themselves for an hour if they wanted. (Lois was an habitual early-riser from growing up in a military family, and she'd sometimes taken the opportunity to go into Cat's room and watch her sleep, though not when Lori was there obviously.)

"Sounds good." He agreed. "Wait, I don't have any clothes here." He realized.

"Mm, I've got some t-shits and shorts that should fit, or you can wear the stuff you came in. Just leave early enough to stop by your place before going to work." Lois reasoned, a little annoyed with the practicality, having been more hoping for romance.

Clark considered that. "...No, we should probably just have a shower. I've got an early meeting with Jeff Sales from the city planning board." He explained.

"This about that thing you're doing on that jack ass trying to push people out of low income housing on old Metro's east side?" She asked.

"Yeah." Clark confirmed.

"Mm, okay then. Shower it is." She smiled and kissed him affectionately, placated by the fact that he was being un-romantic for journalistic reasons at least, to which she could, of course, relate. She still thought he could have at a minimum pretended like it was more of a hardship on him though, but she did like the honesty at least.

The shower was playful and flirting, and she found it very enjoyable them washing one another. She loved his touch, loved touching him, maybe a little too much. When he raced out of the apartment in his rumpled clothes from last night, she felt kind of let down and wistful. For some reason wanting to call Erica just to spite him for leaving her. Okay, so maybe not -just- to spite him. Despite how amazing it was with Clark, Erica had unexpectedly gotten under her skin somehow too. She was very tempting. She smirked a little to herself--so were the twins, she admitted. Having three lovers at once, the extra contact and thoughts, emotions, swirling around, it was very appealing to her. Plus, Margot and Aliki had interesting minds. How free they were with their feelings and how they lived life so always on the edge. But mostly, the way Erica had looked at her when she told her she might ask her to marry her someday, Lois just couldn't shake the memory of that, or the secret desire for Erica to follow through.

She sighed as she finished drying her hair and sat in a loveseat by the windows, looking out over the city and enjoying the feeling of the sun on her skin. She lay on her side and closed her eyes, just trying to embrace a peaceful mood to avoid the fact that she knew she had to make a choice between the two love interests in her life, even though she had very little idea how she was going to do that as of yet.

Before too long, she heard noises and sensed Lori waking up. She got up and rested her forearms on the back of the loveseat, chin on the back of her hands. "Morning, Lori." She greeted in a peaceful mood, smiling a little to see how cute Lori's ruffled hair was.

"Mm? Oh, hey Lois. Where's Clark?" She asked, going about setting some tea to heating on the stove. "Oh, and want some tea?"

"Mm? Oh, sure, sounds great. And Clark left already. All this important reporter business that he felt he needed his own clothes for. Go figure, huh?" She smiled.

Lori just looked at her curiously, going over and sitting on a stool facing her over a counter, resting her chin on her hands, elbows propped up on the counter. "How was it with him?" She asked.

"Hmm..." She hummed. "Amazing, actually. We've definitely got that spark, you know?"

"So... are you choosing him over Erica then?" Lori asked.

"Mm, that's just it, I don't know yet." She admitted, looking down at the floor. "I know I can't, but I kind of want to have both of them somehow now. Like, if I could live two parallel realties at once? One where I chose him, the other where I choose her." It was stupid, but she really did feel kinda stuck.

Lori smiled. "We all wish that sometimes." She answered. "One way or another."

"Very true." Lois agreed, meeting her friend's eyes again.

"Who do you -think- you'll chose?" Lori asked. "If you had to guess, right now."

Lois considered that honestly. Clark was like fire and sunlight, Erica was electric and mysterious like a warm night by the ocean. She could fall so in love with either of them so easily, she knew. "Erica, think." She answered on impulse.

"Why?" Lori asked.

"...As much as I like him, Erica just seems like she'd... I don't know, me with her just makes more sense somehow... I practically had to give him an ultimatum to get him into my bed last night. It was... I didn't like how that made me feel. I guess I'm still mad at him." She admitted. "He kissed my cheek when he said goodbye this morning." She told further, just now realizing she'd been mulling over these feelings in the back of her mind and not thinking about it consciously.

Lori giggled a little. "You wanted tongue?" She asked.

"Of course I did." Lois confirmed. "At least there should have been mouth-to-mouth contact of some kind." She explained, feeling a little depressed by it all of the sudden. "And wake-up sex, that too. There's always wake-up sex with Erica." She told. Still... that warmth Clark made her feel... She didn't like being annoyed with him like she was, she wanted it to be easy and problem free.

"You always want sex." Lori observed teasingly.

"Not always." Lois defended. "And don't pretend like it's not true for you too, Lori."

"Okay, fair point. Cat is very addictive that way for me." Lori agreed with a hint of a blush. "But, you're giving him another chance?" She predicted. The tea pot started to boil and Lori went to make tea for them both, leaving the burner on low to keep the water hot for Cat when she woke.

Lois didn't speak as Lori prepared the tea. She watched as Lori walked over to her and sat down beside her on the loveseat. Lori was in a silk robe, Lois was just wearing a white lacy bra and panties. Lois took a sip of her tea and hummed a little in appreciation. "Yeah, of course I'm going to do that." She confirmed softly. "The love making was really great between us, and like I said: spark... We just... click... Maybe a little too much so, in fact." She quietly admitted that shameful bit of information. Something about getting so close to Clark... scared her a little. She had to finally admit that was true.

"Like why Cat didn't want to be your girlfriend... Too much too fast?" Lori ventured, Cat having told her the truth about that relatively up-front.

Lois looked over at her. "Yeah, maybe so..." Lois had to admit, feeling a little embarrassed by that truth. She'd never pushed Cat for anything after what happened unintentionally between them initially, letting Cat dictate the nature of their relationship almost entirely, but she had to admit, she still wanted for there to be more between them. Even now, she knew herself well enough to know that she'd break up with Erica and Clark both in a heartbeat if Cat said she wanted her like that. Oh, she hoped that if she pursued one of those relationships seriously, that would cease to be true at some point, but for now it was still very much true for her. She kind of hated the idea of making Clark feel that way about her if she dumped him, but she knew that that wasn't a reason to make a decision like this--that being with Clark for a reason like that would be much worse for both of them than not being with him would be. Just like she wouldn't want Cat to be with her for a reason like that. Only if it was really what Cat herself wanted in her soul. "Not so much that I'm giving up on the possibility of being with him yet though."

"So... maybe Clark is the one for you after all? If that's... you know, if you have feelings that strong?" She offered, a little uncomfortable.

Lois just looked into Lori's eyes and smiled. "Lori, Cat's feelings for you, you know they're stronger than hers are for me, right?"

"Uh... I um, yeah, I know that." Lori answered, looking away.

Lois looked down at her hands. "Lori... if Cat really wanted me, like... like I'd be very, very happy if she did... then she wouldn't let fear like that get in the way. She just wouldn't. I kind of like to pretend that's not true sometimes, if I'm feeling low or something, but it's true. If you were me, and I were you, I think she'd... she'd probably still chose you over me. If you know what I mean." She smiled a little at the word jumble she'd just made. What's more, she wasn't sure she completely believed what she'd just said, but... it might be true anyway; probably was... a little bit... or she -hoped- it was only a little bit anyway... (preferably in the macroscopic range...)

"Yeah, I think I do." Lori took Lois's hand in hers and squeezed it a little. "Thanks, Lois." She offered, looking over at her. "You know, it's really kind of frustrating."

"What?" Lois asked.

Lori smiled. "It would really be so much easier if I didn't like you so much." She hugged her. "Know what I mean?"

Lois hugged her back and smiled. "Yeah, I completely know what you mean."

The hug broke up and Lori settled back on the seat, looking out the window and picking up her teacup for another sip. "She told me about that idea of yours. Moving into a bigger place with you?" Lori informed. "You'd... you'd really want that?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course I would. Why not?" Lois asked.

"...Oh, no reason I guess." Lori smiled over to her.

"So... what do you want? I, um, I'll tell her I don't want it, if you, I mean, if you want her more to yourself. I'd completely understand that, if you felt like that I mean." Lois offered, fidgeting about a little.

Lori smiled a little. "Well, thanks for that at least." She answered, reaching a hand over and laying it on Lois's thigh.

"Yeah, of course." Lois replied, putting her hand over Lori's. "So...?"

"So, I guess I'm still thinking about it?" She told, meeting Lois's eyes. "I'm kind of leaning towards a 'yes' though."

"Really?" Lois asked, smiling.

"Yeah. I mean, I know it means a lot to her. You too I guess." She took Lois's hand in hers and held it. "And I have to admit, I do kind of like the idea of having you around for some reason." She confessed. "As probably idiotic as that is of me." She laughed.

"You think I might try to steal her from you? Lori, I..." But Lori brought up two fingers to cover her lips to symbolically stop her in mid-speech.

"No, I don't think that." Lori smiled a little ruefully. "If you were going to try something like that, I think you would have by now. No... I guess if I were more of an insecure person than I am, I'd be a little afraid -she- might do something; you know if we had an argument or something? You so close and tempting, and that you wouldn't say no."

"Except I would say no." Lois told softly.

"Huh? You..." Lori was surprised.

"I'd say no. In that situation, of course I would." Lois told softly. "If... if anything were to happen, between her and me, I wouldn't say yes unless it was real. Unless I knew it's what she wanted, not just for a night. If for no other reason than it would hurt too much to do otherwise." She smiled to herself a little. "And I think you'd also have had to have done something really spectacularly dumb to mess things up between you for that to happen. So, as long as you don't do that, your relationship with her is probably safe from me." She admitted. "I really do like you a lot." She spoke more softly. "I don't want to hurt you, if I can possibly help it..."

"Hm." Lori smiled. "Mutual." She hugged her.

"I'm glad." Lois hugged her back. She really was very grateful for Lori in fact, in large part at least. That she was such a good person with an open heart and all. She had to figure most other women would have tried to cut Lois out of Cat's life as much as possible. And Lois would have probably had to have let them, and that would have hurt... very badly.

The second hug broke apart. "If it's any help, I'd pick Erica, if it were up to me." She told.

"Hm? Why's that?" Lois asked curiously.

"Um, basically because she's a woman. And you are too, no matter what or who you were before. Maybe I'm just bias because I had such a bad experience, but I think women are just better for women, as mates." She explained, reflectively. "A man just wouldn't be like you are about this. Not unless he was gay maybe, but then this situation wouldn't be this situation if you were a gay man. I know it sounds kind of bigoted... and maybe it is. But I still think it's probably true anyway." She looked off at her and Cat's collection of CDs, not meeting Lois's eyes.

"Huh. Well... Mm, maybe you're right. I certainly wouldn't know for sure. But... I don't think it really applies to me as much as you might think. I mean, you're right, like I am now, I'm definitely 100% woman. But I don't have to be. Culturally, green Martians took on gender roles because of our history with the people of Saturn, how our ancestors mimicked them during one point in our evolution; but when it came to sex? Those already very changeable appearances would just fade away past a certain point for us... In our natural state, our scientists were fairly certain, we don't even actually have gender at all. So I could be a man with Clark just as easily." She smiled. "In fact I think I'd like to try it at least once, out of curiosity at least. But I really don't think it would make too much difference to me... Though I guess I wouldn't really know until I tried, right? I guess I'll just have to see..."

Lori just shook her head a little but smiled a bit ruefully. "Sometimes..."

"Sometimes what?" Lois asked.

"Sometimes you really surprise me, that's all. Often in fact. And that's not a bad thing." She patted Lois's hand and got up from the couch. "I need to start cooking breakfast."

"Something with sea weed?" Lois perked up. She completely loved Lori's cooking. For some reason though, Cat wasn't quite so taken with it, although she'd said she liked it well enough.

"For you? Of course." Lori smiled, always pleased when Lois appreciated her cooking so much; realizing, as a mermaid, her taste in food might not always be so compatible with land people. Lois even liked the more raw dishes she served. She chalked it up to her being an alien, but was grateful for it none the less.

"Mm, yum. Can I help?" Lois offered.

"Sure. Can you chop the hazelnuts?" Lori had a real weakness for hazelnuts for some reason. She ate them like candy sometimes, Lois had noticed.

"Of course." Lois agreed happily.

Not long after that, Cat came out of her room and the three of them ate breakfast together.

\--- KAL ---

It was about two in the afternoon, Kal was on his own as 'Superman'. He'd taken leave from work early, claiming to be following leads. So far, he'd stopped seven separate crimes. All mostly in the area of the city where Harvey Bullock had worked. He'd decided to make that a priority, as so few others seemed to make that neighborhood a priority. He'd just stopped a group of kids robbing a corner gas station. One of them had spat in his face and said some, well, things that turned his ears a little red, actually, especially coming from a kid so young.

He was on a roof, sitting on the edge and looking down at the people below, just wondering about life in general, when he heard a faint sound behind him. "I was wondering when I'd see you again, Bruce." He spoke, not looking back.

"I guess I don't have to tell you not to jump." Bruce replied.

Kal smiled as the Batman sat down beside him on the ledge. "True." He agreed.

"So, Clark Kent, is it? Wouldn't have expected that." Bruce told.

Kal looked at him, surprised. Then he shook his head a little ruefully. "Fair's fair I guess."

"I thought so." Bruce answered. "I've been following your exploits around here recently. I walked the streets down there, people seem to be living with... less weight on their shoulders. Less weariness. More hope. You gave that to them Clark... That's impressive. To me at least." He admitted quietly.

"Is that your way of telling me you've decided you like me?" Kal asked.

"I... suppose it is--that I find myself respecting you at least." He allowed. "I hope you keep it up."

"I plan to." Kal pledged to him.

\--- J'ONN ---

Lois was down by the waterfront crouched behind some crates with Jimmy and his camera. She'd been working for this for weeks. She'd thought about inviting Clark to go with her, but he'd begged off after lunch, saying he had some business of his own to take care of. It had frustrated her, she'd wanted to share this with him, and, okay, maybe impress him some too. Generally, she was finding more and more that Clark was turning out to be frustrating and hard for her to pin down. When it had seemed just so... easy with him, at first. Was Lori right? Was it just that human men and women weren't all that compatible in long term relationships? She knew there was some truth there at least, how much she had yet to decide for herself on. Honestly though, she tended to think it was probably just a problem with Clark rather than some nefarious worldwide phenomenon at work. She just had to get to the bottom of it. Soon, preferably.

The ship's gangplank lowered and ship's hands disembarked, were met by dock hands, and they set about getting the ship secured. Equipment, forklifts and such, were being brought into position to offload the cargo. Lois's hands squeezed into fists thinking about how brazen and disgusting these people in Intergang were to be doing this in broad daylight. The people who worked for the docks, many of them, most, probably had no idea what, and who, they were transporting.

She heard Captain Maggie Sawyer's voice in her ear telling her people to get ready. Lois had brought this to her days ago, and, in exchange for the information and all the detective work Lois had already done, gathering evidence and such, Maggie had agreed to give her the exclusive.

It took a while, but the first crates were soon offloaded. Lois heard Maggie give the signal. "Stay back, Jimmy. Take those great pictures you take. I'm going in for a closer look." Lois told Jimmy upon hearing that.

"Lois, are you sure that's... Never mind." He gave up, she was already on her way and experience no doubt told him that he was wasting his breath. Part of her wanted to go invisible and help Maggie; make sure no one was hurt. She was a manhunter after all, her planet's equivalent to police; but, despite that she worried that the incident with Joan Dale/Miss America months ago may have blown her cover, she still held out hope that her ruse would bear fruit in the matter of the real Lois's disappearance if she were patient enough. And Intergang was still on her list of suspects, despite having nothing but the thin thread of knowing Lois had made herself their enemy and that the dark gods who were behind them might have had the ability to take Lois and leave no trace. They had done something similar to Joan; kidnapping her and using her as a power source with no one the wiser, after all. Still, she had not a shred of real evidence to support her suspicion--all the Intergang people whose minds he'd broken into before going under cover as Lois knew nothing of it. But she didn't have all the information on the dark gods themselves, except that they came from a place called Apokolips and were very powerful. She had no way to get to them either, and they were more powerful than she could hope to take on head on. She'd barely managed to pull through against one of them after all, and she'd had the feel of fire about her, fire such as she'd never wish to see--so going to where Lashina and her fellows lived, it seemed to be very probable suicide for her; which would of course not help Lois in the least. So she'd decided to be every bit the thorn in their side the real Lois had been, more even, and see if they tipped their hand. If she -knew- they had her, she'd find a way to free her. God fire or not.

It happened then, Maggie's troops descended on the boat with overwhelming force. Gotham-Metro's Special Crimes Division landing like a ton of bricks. The men on the boats pulled out those other-worldly energy weapons of theirs, but, thanks to Kara Ze's Star Corp, the S.C.D. unit were nearly as well armed. And they had John Henry Irons with them in his Steel armor, as well as Gilotina, a rogue Fury from the dark gods (whom she'd talked to as J'onn before while searching for Lois, but gotten little useful information from), and Prysm (Gilotina's girlfriend and the reason the Fury'd ran and taken refuge on Earth). As she watched, it was clear the Intergang thugs didn't stand a chance.

When it was over, Lois walked out from hiding and congratulated Maggie on her success, going with her to see as the human cargo was being freed and the designer drugs and weapons cargo were being investigated. "My god, what were they doing to these people..." Maggie spoke as she and Lois got a look at the people Intergang had been shipping. They had that other-worldly technology implanted in or attached to them and were non-responsive, packed like they were just freight.

"...Soldiers, I'd guess." Lois told. "Human weapons. Fuck, this is even worse than I thought." She was just realizing how very serious this was turning into. "If they reach a certain scale with this stuff, it'll be worldwide war... and we might not be the winners." She unconsciously reached her hand out to take Maggie's. Maggie held her hand back a moment then let go. Lois was sacred. Why was this happening? Again? To say she did not want to be the last survivor of a second world would be a very grim understatement.

"Courage, Lane." Maggie smiled to her. "We beat them today, we'll beat them tomorrow." She offered in comfort.

Lois smiled. "I'm glad the city has you, Maggie." She replied.

Just then there was a shout, 'We've got a man down over here!' one of Maggie's officers had called, causing others to rush to where he was. Lois looked at Maggie and, wordlessly, they both went to find out who was hurt, or who was dead.

"It's a civilian, Mam." An officer informed, coming up to Maggie. "Your photographer... if I had to guess." He directed this to Lois.

"Jimmy?" She spoke softly, taking off through the crates and past the officers until she was where she'd left the young photographer.

"Is he...?" She started to ask, seeing a medic beside him, but her words stopped when she realized he was dead. She stood there for a few seconds. "Fuck!" She cursed loudly, banging her fist into a nearby crate. She realized her mistake in time to make it appear as though her hand was bleeding thankfully. "I shouldn't have left him here." She spoke sorrowfully, turning away and finding Maggie standing there.

Maggie came over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "If you hadn't, you'd probably be dead too." She turned to look at the dead boy. "No, this is my fault much more than its yours, Lois. It was my call to let you inside the perimeter. You're civilians..." She trailed off and shook her head. "Do we know who did this?" She asked a lieutenant.

"Someone from Intergang got by us somehow. We took surveillance before we moved, should be able to pull an ID once we match who's on the video to who's in custody or in a body bag and see who's missing." The lieutenant replied.

"Whisper A'Daire. It has to be." Lois told bitterly, having met the woman before and having been surprised to see her with the Intergang group on the docks. If anyone of them could have escaped through all of that, it would have been her.

"Lane?" Maggie turned to her. "I think you need to tell me what else you know, right now. That name wasn't in the intel you gave me. I thought we agreed, full disclosure?"

Lois met her eyes, shaking her head a little. "I had no idea she would be here, but I know I saw her coming off the boat before you and your people moved in. She's high up in their organization, and... very dangerous. You'd... you would need a whole S.W.A.T. team to take her on; Jimmy didn't stand a chance." She met Maggie's eyes again. "I've seen her in action once, in Italy--it was a massacre. I've been digging into these creeps for a long time Maggie, not just for this operation. Maybe... maybe I should give you everything I have on them."

"I think that would be a very smart idea." Maggie narrowed her eyes. "One that should have occurred to you a lot sooner, I shouldn't need to tell you."

Lois looked over at Jimmy's body, photos of the crime scene being taken for evidence. It struck her as... she didn't know what, that he was being photographed like that when he'd spent his adult life doing the same. It struck her as sad, at any rate. "Message received. Loud and clear." She agreed, feeling all the more guilty.

Maggie walked over to her and put a hand on Lois's forearm. "Hey, it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway, you know?" She tried to comfort her.

Lois met her eyes and moved forwards and hugged the surprised captain. Maggie hugged her back after a beat.

Lois moved away. "Um, thanks for that." She spoke, looking a little embarrassed.

Maggie smiled to her. "Of course." She offered compassionately. "We all need a hug sometimes, I guess." She told, looking at her lieutenant, his face serious as he took notes on the crime scene. "Even stone-faced police lieutenants, I'd bet." She observed playfully, causing lieutenant Murphy to look to her with a puzzled expression, which made Lois smile a little.

There was a loud blast from over by the docks just then, followed by the sounds of fighting.

"Stay here--I mean it Lois!" Maggie commanded her. "Baker, Collins, watch her!" She commanded two of her officers. "Everyone else, with me!" She charged towards the sound of the battle.

Lois closed her hands into fists. She used her telepathy to look through the eyes of someone in Maggie's team who was on the docks. She saw it was the people from the crates with the Intergang weapons systems on them--they'd become active; some of them had taken up weapons from the crates, and all were attacking anything that moved. They were hyper aggressive, brutal, and increasingly well-armed. She looked further. Prysm was down, and Gilotina was protecting her, Lois sensed the Fury would flee with her lover to protect her the first chance she got and leave the others to fend for themselves. Irons had been taken by surprise and was being swarmed by five of them, not fairing too well. Maggie's troupes weren't in formation, were cut off in smaller groups, and there were a lot of these rage-filled soldiers, maybe just too many. If she didn't do something, people, police officers, were going to die; her friend Maggie among them perhaps. With her powers though, she knew she could stop this quickly before anyone got hurt...

She was about to go into her two minders' heads and make them think she was still here when she wasn't (so she could sneak away and help) when she saw something passing overhead in her peripheral vision. The next second, the sounds started to change. She refocused on seeing through the eyes of Maggie's people and saw a red and blue blur moving faster than human eyes could follow. In just seconds, all the soldiers were disarmed and restrained. Then, the eyes she was looking through got a clear look at him: Superman. Lois was so surprised she lost focus and snapped out of looking through the other person's eyes. "Did not see that coming." She spoke to herself, walking through the boxes.

"Ms. Lane, wait." Officer Collins called after her.

"Don't worry." She called back to the woman. "It's all over, can't you hear it? Didn't you see Superman flying overhead? I need to get an interview with him!" She explained on the run, the two officers giving chase.

She reached the clearing of boxes and stopped short when she saw him. He glowed with power and presence even more now, like he'd been purposefully tamping it down when he was Clark. No wonder people couldn't see through it easily. She was in motion again though before Collins or Baker could get to her. "Kal-El!" She called what she guessed must be his real name out, knowing he didn't like 'Superman' from talking with him as Clark.

He turned and their eyes met. There was a flash of fear on his part, gone in a second. He was afraid she would know who he was, wasn't he? Well, she did; had the second she'd got a good look, but she wasn't going to let on just yet. "Lois Lane, Dailey Planet. Got time for an interview?" She asked him.

"I, um, yeah." He spoke. "I guess we could do that." He answered; unconsciously acting a bit like Clark in shy-guy mode, she noticed.

"Say, have we met before?" She asked, winking at him playfully.

He slapped his face with his hand and groaned a little. "Should have known." He muttered.

"Superman?" Maggie asked, looking between him and Lois questioningly.

"He prefers Kal-El, or just Kal; don't you Kal?" She teased him.

"Yeah, I. Lois, don't you think we should go somewhere and talk about this? You know, the interview?" He prompted.

"Lead the way, handsome." She acquiesced.

He groaned a little.

"Well, um, thanks for the help... Kal?" Maggie offered.

"Glad to." Kal smiled to her.

"What's going on with you two?" Maggie asked Lois. "Do you know him?"

"You could say we've met." Lois told, not taking her eyes from Kal's.

"Uh... huh... You'll have to tell me about that sometime, Lane. Seems you do like to live an interesting life." Maggie observed, going to check on her troops. Lois looked and saw that Prysm was fine, just dazed, and she was glad for it. Not nearly as glad as Gilotina was, who was actually crying a little as she hugged her lover. It was all a very romantic scene actually, and Lois smiled to herself to see it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	6. Gods Of Darkness And Fire

PART 6: GODS OF DARKNESS AND FIRE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- J'ONN (continued) ---

"So... oh!" Lois exclaimed as she was swept off her feet and carried through the air in Kal's arms to a nearby rooftop. He sat her down, but she was actually happy to keep her hands around his neck. "Do that anytime." She offered a little flirtingly.

He actually blushed a little and she kissed him, passionately. Privately thinking to herself that this must be why she felt such a strong connection with this man--he was one of the last of his people, not unlike her. No wonder she'd been drawn to him. Two souls, cast adrift from everything they'd known. It was practically fate they'd found one another.

The kiss ended, Kal pushing her back gently. "How'd you know it was me?" He asked softly.

Lois laughed lightly. "Smallville, please. How could I not know the second I got a look at you?" She kissed him again, and this time he didn't resist her any.

"I'm just glad I found out." She spoke after the long kissing session ended, or at least was put on pause. "You were being so frustrating, you know? Now I know at least it wasn't me. You were just a space alien. What a relief." She told him playfully, kissing him again.

He started laughing a little and sat down. "You really are full of surprises, you know?" He answered as she sat down beside him and leaned against him, laying her head on his shoulder. "This is not at all how I thought this conversation would go, you know."

"So you -were- planning on telling me at some point then? That's good to know." She moved and got onto his lap. "I guess there're some things I need to tell you too though..." She admitted. She was a little hesitant, but seeing him as he really was at last, feeling his full presence, it was completely obvious to her that he couldn't possibly be involved in the real Lois's disappearance. He had so much goodness, caring, and compassion in him, he'd probably pass out from shock if he even considered doing something like that.

"What's that?" He asked.

Just then "BBBOOOOMMMM!!!" a blast of heavy air, stinking of fire, blew over them, and Lois got a feeling of dread in her stomach at the smell and feel of it.

"Fuck..." She swore piteously. "Fuck." She got off him and stood with him to face it. "As if these jack-asses haven't done enough damage today."

Two women and two metallic hounds stepped through the swirling portal before them. Lashina was in the lead, the other woman hanging back a little. She was smiling. "If it isn't the trickster of green, playing at hiding? I see you!" Lashina accused as she struck out at Lois with one of her lashes; the lash flared with energy as it was about to strike.

Kal caught it in one hand. "Who are you people?" He demanded.

"Your betters!" Lashina told, sending a blast of energy through the lash that felled Kal to his knees. Lois stepped forward and blasted the woman with beams of fire from her eyes, she then took hold of the lash holding Kal and pulled Lashina forward, decking her hard enough to send her flying. The other woman caught her. Lashina just laughed. "Such spunk!" She exalted. "I missed the feel of your fire! Lovely!" She charged forwards at Lois, even though Lois kept blasting her with her fire beams; and Lois could tell the beams hurt her opponent, just not enough to stop her apparently... She actually seemed to be enjoying the pain.

Kal tackled her before she could get to her though, and was set upon by the two mettle dogs. Lois was going to help, when the second woman grabbed her roughly by the hair, seemingly out of nowhere, and kissed her. Lois felt like her will was being dominated by that firm, hot kiss. Her lips were soft and so sweet to kiss, but the kiss itself felt like a force of nature. Like her heart wasn't quite hers anymore, like something inside of her was running, being hunted, but... secretly, wanted to be caught. She lashed out with as powerful a psychic assault as she could muster though, and the woman staggered away from her. "Very good, J'ann." The woman complemented, having learned her true name during the kiss apparently. J'ann had actually been her birth name, as the first gender she'd chose as a child had been female. She hadn't heard it in a very, very long time. In the Martian language, J'onn was the male version of that name; she'd adopted it later on when she'd chosen to become male. Now that she was female again, it really was more appropriate to be called that actually; though the thought that that was true hadn't occurred to her before now. "I do like pray who doesn't know to act like pray yet." She took out a sword. "I'm Artemiz, the hunter." She told. "And I find I'm very pleased to meet you, lover."

Lois felt a shiver go through her. It was so wrong, but she was definitely turned on by this woman. She was just so fierce and wild looking, but so completely beautiful and strong. She swallowed and looked at Kal as he threw off the dogs and was kicked in the face by Lashina who could move nearly as fast as he. Lois made the decision then, and launched herself at Lashina. "Trade you!" She called to Clark, to Kal.

She really didn't want to fight Artemiz. What was frightening was she wanted her to kiss her again. But Artemiz clearly was only attracted to other women, it would have been impossible to miss that fact while she'd struck out at her, mind-to-mind. Kal was probably a lot more likely to win against her without all that intense sex-appeal directed at him. Fuck, even as she was grappling with Lashina, she was still way too turned on for it to be a good thing at a time like this.

\--- KAL ---

He was a little bewildered, more than a little really, by what was going on here. Who were these women? They were at least as powerful as he was and there was just some quality to them that made it a little hard to even -look- at them; as though his eyes couldn't quite believe they were as small as they were, like his eyes should be seeing... giants... As little sense as that made. Where had they come from? What did they want? And, for the big money, how was Lois fighting back against them as well as he? And she had heat vision?! She couldn't be Kryptonian, he was almost sure he would have known. When he was around his cousin, there was always this energy there that was unmistakably recognizable to him. Also, Lois seemed to know these two, and she definitely didn't want to fight the one who was looking at him like... He felt a little of a shiver go through him. Those eyes were so completely predatory, and that slight smile.

"She thinks it will save you, you being male, you know. It won't." She told, her metal dogs barking at him as she planted her sword in the ground and advanced on him, a few steps.

"What are you trying to gain here? What do you even want out of this?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Isn't amusement enough of a reason, Kryptonian?" She asked, and just like that, she was at him, moving at speeds matching his.

He fought her, but she was clearly the better fighter and soon he was on his back, a bloody lip, and some already healing bruises. He chanced a look at Lois then, just for a fraction of a second, and saw she was holding her own. Trading blows with the other one. He got to his feet and blasted Artemiz with his heat vision. It struck her shoulder a little, but she mostly dodged it and punched him in the face. The sound of it was like a thunderclap and the impact sent him through the floor of the building. He landed in rolls of old carpeting in a room full of dust that looked like an vacant old studio apartment in need of renovations.

He was getting up when he saw her jumping down after him. She landed light as a feather; but the impact of it, none-the-less, sent out a concussive wave of shimmering golden energy that smelt of flames. The blast blew apart the side of the building in a perfect sphere; like someone just tore a chunk off of it. He was dazed and when he looked at her, all he could see was a complex matrix of energy in the vague form of a woman, and that energy was washing over him in waves. He shook his head and closed his eyes, telling his senses to make sense of the world around him again. He opened his eyes when his wrists were pinned to the floor by Artemiz's two dogs. At least he could see half-way right again, and he was sure he could break free of the dogs. She threw something attached to a cord at him though, before he could get his wits about him enough to act. It camped around his neck; energy and fire flooded though him, he screamed, back arching against the carpets, eyes wide open and just seeing energy.

Slowly, his senses cleared and the world started to make sense again. The pressure was gone from his wrists, the dogs had let him go. He brought his hands together and rubbed one of his wrists, catching sight of his hands as he did, noticing the longer fingernails. Shock flared in him at what he saw. He looked up at Artemiz and she was smiling, holding a... he followed it to him, to his neck... a leash. She walked towards him and got down, crawling over him, holding his wrists down... He was... he'd been turned into a woman, and he... she, she was naked... 

Artemiz kissed her and Kal gasped at the feelings of it. Dominating, playful, alien, and somehow... beautiful... The fire, the energy inside her, it was making her feel things. Intellectually, she knew she should be resisting, but as Artemiz's breasts slid against hers and the goddess over her pressed her thigh into her sex, Kal just moaned in pleasure, arching her back and opening herself to the woman who seemed to just take her over. "See?" She spoke softly to her. "You're mine now, just the same."

And she was kissing her again. Kal felt like she was on fire, burning, and she didn't want it to stop. She wrapped her arms around the woman over her and just let the feelings come to her. And when Artemiz's fingers slid into her and played her like music, she felt so lost... in good ways, and in bad ways too... Either way, it didn't matter; she felt helpless and overwhelmed. Artemiz was the one in control, not her. As she climaxed the second time, she felt tears come, and she held onto her lover for the only comfort she could find.

\--- J'ANN ---

Lois had taken the fight with Lashina into the air, but Lashina had followed her, and she felt the energy as one of her enemy's lashes wrapped around her and burned her and she was thrown back to the roof just as part of that roof was blown away by Artemiz in her battle with Kal. Kal was losing, Lois could tell, but she couldn't do anything about that now. She was off balance inside; in the mood for love not war, and even as Lashina laughed at her and kicked her in the side on the ground, she couldn't help but think how stupid this was to fight, when it would be so much more fun to touch... She moaned a little and grit her teeth, using her mind and her strength to break free of the lash. Breathing a little harder and hurting some, she stared into Lashina's eyes. "Fuck..." She muttered.

Lashina laughed. "Pretty little plaything, I'm starting to like your spirit." She complemented her.

Then Lois felt it through her telepathic senses as Clark, as Kal, was held down and assaulted.

"Mmm, my lover is having fun with your lover; should we be jealous?" She laughed, jumping on her and pinning her to the ground. Lois looked up into her opponent's eyes and tried very hard not to think about having sex with her. "Or maybe we should have our own fun, hmm? I have to warn you though, I like it violent... You'll scream for me, won't you plaything?"

Lois heard Clark's scream and that did it for her, snapped her out of whatever Artemiz had done to her enough to think again. Enough to feel rage boiling in her. "Plaything this, 'pretty'." She answered defiantly in a low soft voice as she forced her way into Lashina's mind. It was blackness full of fire and lust and cruelty and all manner of terror, and it was so big... The mind of a goddess, a dynamo; vast and full of blunt, tactless power and fury. Lois didn't let it stop her though; she struck and forced herself into the heart of her enemy's mind, ravaged it without mercy. Clark needed her; she wasn't going to leave him to face her horrors alone. Physically, Lashina was almost certainly more than her match; more than she could handle with any shred of certainty (she'd beaten her last time with Joan's help, but without a partner with that extreme level of raw power on her side now, her chances were bad and she knew it). Lois just hoped she really would have the advantage she needed here in the realm of minds and hearts. She saw then, Lashina hadn't been joking when she'd said Artemiz was her lover. It was an understatement. They'd been lovers, mates, for longer than Lois could measure, thousands of years surely. Oh, they'd broken up and gotten back together a few times in that time, but Artemiz was Lashina's anchor, the touchstone for everything in her. Not even her mistress... Maitresse... Lois locked down the memories that had to do with her, locked them from her mind's sight. She shuddered at the glimpse she'd gotten. Determining she never wanted to meet that... being, not ever if she could help it. She just had to deal with Lashina now. The battle of wills was fierce, but in this arena, Lashina was proving the weaker. Still, her blunt power was proving difficult to restrain. She was like a raging river, and the feel of flames that was everywhere didn't help. She finally decided if she couldn't stop the river, she'd redirect it. She used what Artemiz had pushed on her and let it fill her, let her become it like she became Lois, and then she flooded Lashina's mind with it, wrapping it around the heart of her, using it like a door to use her feelings for Artemiz, make herself into those feelings, shape them, so Lashina, in her very heart, couldn't tell her from Artemiz; and just like that, Lois won. Lashina was hers. She made her believe it, made her believe that she was her lover and not Artemiz. Made her believe, remember, feel, abandoning Apokolips to be with her. And now, Apokolips was coming back for her, for them. The hunter was after her. To take her away from the love of her life.

"Lois? J'ann?" Lashina asked softly. "What's, what's going on? Are you hurt?"

Lois kissed her. "Maybe just a little." She smirked, making her eyes and smile and all her signals like Artemiz's. "But you protect me, Lasha. You're the only one I let do that. Now, come on; let's hunt the witch, while she's playing with her toys."

Lashina just looked into her eyes, like something just wasn't quite.... Then she shook her head as Lois tightened her hold on her mind and heart that much more, seeping into her thoughts and spreading everywhere she could. It was working. "Fine... but after this is done, you and I... I feel like..." She growled and kissed her. "Fuck, like if I don't touch you soon, I'll go mad like our... like my sister Harriet..." She shook her head and got up, helping Lois to her feet and smiling to her with love in her eyes. "We'll... we'll have our freedom, my love. If we have to kill armies for it." She smiled wickedly. "In fact, that might just be a bonus. Let's go cause pain."

"Mm, you say the sweetest things." Lois flirted. It was weird. She wasn't quite being Artemiz, just a mix of Artemiz and Lois and herself, not that there was a whole lot of difference between her Lois persona and her real self anymore. She'd... she'd done what she was doing now, she'd made that role hers, made it fit her soul. She couldn't be Artemiz, just like she couldn't really be Lois, she could just be herself through them. Let those feelings and emotions, that nameless force from Artemiz, become part of her. Because she needed it to be; this wouldn't work if she just pretended, she had to go all the way with it or Lashina wouldn't believe, would see right through her.

\--- KAL ---

Artemiz was holding her by her now long hair, looking down into her eyes. "What a pretty pet you'll make. Tell me you're mine, pet. Tell me you just want to make me smile, hmm?" She purred.

"I..." Kal looked into her eyes and wanted to say that, even though she felt disgusted with herself for wanting that. "I..." She was going to say it; she had to right?

"Quit playing, fight me so I can make you scream!" Lashina was telling Artemiz, Lois picking the completely surprised and disbelieving Artemiz up by the hair and smiling to her.

"You heard her, she wants a fight. Better give it to her before I hurt you." Lois tossed Artemiz on the floor.

Artemiz sat up. "My Lasha, what has she done to you?" She turned and looked at Lois, fury in her voice. "I'll rip you apart for this!" She roared at her, but Lashina struck and wrapped her up with both of her lashes, causing Artemiz to cry out when Lashina sent the full force of her power through them.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this." Lashina said, kicking the kneeling Artemiz in the face again.

Artemiz screamed in rage. Her dogs attacked Lashina and Artemiz broke free. She looked at Lois. "I'm going to take -years- in killing you, world-orphan; only my own death can stop me. You think you've known suffering? You have yet to start!" She screamed, coldness and fury in her voice. She turned on Lashina and charged her, a box at her belt making 'Ping' noises. That blast of fiery air, sucking inward this time, appeared, and Artemiz wrestled her (perhaps now former) lover into the portal.

Lois charged at them, but Artemiz blasted her back with a sweeping ark of energy. "You're never touching her again, mind whore." She cursed at her.

And they were gone, the dogs barking as they followed their mistress; the portal collapsing with another loud 'BOOM'.

Kal looked at Lois who had gotten up and only missed the portal by seconds. She fell to her knees and was... crying. Kal was finding it hard to process what had been done to her... to him, he was supposed to be a him, she remembered. She did know that she loved Lois, or had been starting to. She got up, bringing a hand to her collar and tugging at it absently. She realized of course she'd no doubt have to try a lot harder to get it off, but for now the symbolic attempts made her feel better at least. She walked over to the crying Lois, meaning to comfort her.

Lois let out a frustrated growl and clenched her fists, getting up a pacing a little, until her eyes caught on Kal's. Kal felt startled and exposed and shy of her.

"Clark?" Lois asked softly. "Wow... She really did a number on you, didn't she Smallville?" She smiled softly to her, snapping out of her anger at seeing her.

"Yeah, um, yeah..." She trailed off, looking at the ground and holding one arm with her hand. "I... She really did." Kal met Lois's eyes and felt tears begin to fall, even as she tried to smile a little.

"Oh, Clark..." Lois rushed over to her and hugged her. Kal hugged her back gratefully and let herself cry too.

"What's wrong with me?" Kal asked softly. "What... what did I do...?"

There was a rush of air and the sound of someone landing.

"...Kal? ...That, that is you, isn't it Kal?" Kara's voice came. Lois let her go and Kal stepped back from her, finding her cousin's eyes and feeling more than a little exposed, naked as she was. "What happened to you?"

"I..." Kal looked to her cousin and then to Helena who Kara had brought with her, then down at the floor. "There... um..." Kara went over to her and wrapped her in her arms.

"Shh... it's, it's going to be okay." Kara soothed, obviously not having been expecting anything like this when she arrived.

\--- J'ANN ---

Kara looked over to her, Lois's clothes were in tatters from the battle she realized. "You're Lois Lane, the reporter? What happened to him?" She asked.

"We were attacked." Lois told. "This, one of them did that to him. Um, to her I mean. She... she was raped. I.... I tried to get to her, but..." Lois looked over at Huntress. "How are you here?" She asked.

"We were in Paris." Helena answered. "Kara heard Kal's scream..." She looked to her wife, walking over to be closer to her, putting her hand on her shoulder.

Kara was silent. "Who was it? The rapist; who was it? Where did they go?" She asked Lois. "Also, while we're at it, what's your story Ms. Lane? You're obviously not just a reporter if you survived against whatever did this to my cousin." She observed a little accusingly.

"No, obviously not. I'm alien to this world, a survivor of a doomed people... Much like you..." She told. "Amazing that Clark and I met, and neither of us knew about the other..." She spoke softly. "Her name is Artemiz the Hunter. The one who did this to him, to her, the one who raped her. Her name was Artemiz." Lois told them, trying not to feel torn up inside at loosing Lashina. The feelings had to be real for her to do what she did, and feelings like that didn't go away easily. She knew rationally that she should move on and forget it, but she also knew rationally that she was incapable of doing that. That she'd just have to suffer through it. It had been worth it though, right? Fuck, she wished she knew some way to, she didn't know, save her. It was actually hard to resist the urge to try to find a way to Apokolips to rescue her. Rescue Lasha. She knew that really, Artemiz was the one who Lasha was meant for, but that didn't stop her from feeling like it should be her. "She and her, she and her partner went the way they came. They're goddesses, Power Woman, dark ones, from a place called Apokolips. It was all I could do to... to drive them away. And the cost for how I did that, I will be paying for it for a long, long time I think..." She told, a shiver of fear running through her, both for her the state of her own heart and at Artemiz's words and the terrifying look in her eyes directed at her when she'd said them. She honestly hadn't known that malice that -intense- could even exist... It shook her.

"Well, thank you then. For whatever it was you did." Kara answered.

She smiled a half-smile at that, walking over to them and looking at Clark's collar. "Yeah, well, you might want to hold off on that. Artemiz will be back; for me definitely after what I did, but I would in no way discount the possibility of her coming after Clark again to hurt me. And believe me, if she gets into your system, you won't even want to fight her... You'll... you'll want her to take you." She sighed. "Here, I think I see how to take this off." Clark stepped back from her cousin a little and complied with Lois's intention, even though Lois could tell part of her didn't want to have the collar taken off. There was a small wave of energy that released when she unclasped the collar, and Clark fell against her cousin in seeming exhaustion when she was freed.

"Kal?" Kara looked to Lois with a question in her eyes.

"I'm okay." Clark answered softly. "Thanks..." She offered to Los rather meekly.

"Of course." Lois answered with obvious compassion in her voice.

"I'll want that." Kara told, referring to the collar. "I might be able to figure out how it works, how to reverse whatever was done to him; even how to fight this Artemiz woman if she comes back."

Helena came over to Lois. "Here, I'll take it." She offered, Lois gladly giving the thing away.

"Lois's right you know, about her, about, um, about Artemiz..." Clark told, Kara pulling back a little, sensing her cousin had a little of her strength back now, looking into her eyes at her speaking. "I mean, I still... I don't want to, but I still..."

Kara hugged her cousin to her again and ran her hand through her hair comfortingly. "It's okay; it's going to be okay..." She looked up at Lois. "There are people who need my help, the building-"

"I'll take care of them. You just..." She sensed that Clark didn't want to be around her right now, that he, that she, needed family, and time alone. "Just take her home, take care of her. Leave this to me." Lois offered. "Clark, I'll... I'll come see you later, okay? Right now... right now it's not me you need I think." She told, becoming intangible and dropping through the floor.

She very quickly made her way to the victim who needed her most, using her telekinesis to dig him out of fallen rubble and keep him safe. People had died, been blasted to dust, when Artemiz had taken a chunk out of the building. And the rest of the building, the shockwaves from the blast, it looked like the place had been through an earthquake. The building next door had also been structurally damaged, and two people on the street had been struck by debris. One was almost dead, no hope of saving her. The other was getting medical attention from paramedics. She was the only one besides Power Woman or Clark who could get to many of the victims inside the building in time though. It was better for her to do it though, it gave her something to focus on and it gave Clark the distance she needed, and the comfort of family. She sensed Clark, Power Woman, and Huntress leaving, Clark holding her cousin's hand, wrapped in Huntress's cape.

She continued to do rescue work. Of course she was concerned about blowing her cover, but really, she had to figure, if whoever was behind Lois's death had been watching her today, her fighting the Furies, her secret was already out and there was no harm in doing what she was doing. No harm, and much good.

After this was over though, she was going home. She was going to see Cat, or maybe Erica... She considered that, and the strong feelings she was developing for the woman seemed just what she needed right now. Unfortunately, Erica wasn't due back until tomorrow. "Fuck." Lois grumbled. She was so messed up and wound up inside, she just wanted to make love to someone; to not be alone.

Fleetingly, she imagined asking Cat and Lori if they would be interested in a three way, but knew that would probably ruin things with them even if they said yes (which wasn't likely). It was so wrong. She was in love with four women, or, really five, Erica, Cat, Lasha, and Clark, and she still loved her dead wife so much it still hurt to think of her at times like this, and she couldn't be with any of them tonight. Of them though, the only one for whom the reason wasn't tragic in some way was Erica. For that reason alone, Lois thought she'd probably just say yes right now if Erica actually did ask her to marry her. She was just so... so tired of hurting, of pain. She wanted someone to take it away.

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(to be continued)


	7. Love And Longing

PART 7: LOVE AND LONGING

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\--- LASHINA ---

Artemiz kneed her in the groin, Lashina answered with a head-butt, their attacks backed by god-energy. The dogs backed away from them. Artemiz tossed her to the ground and Lashina barely rolled out of the way, avoiding a kick to her side, she kicked Artemiz's feet out from under her and scrambled, up, tackling her opponent.

"Fuck! Lasha, stop this, you're mine, mine! Not hers!" Artemiz shouted at her, fury in her eyes, yes, but something more too, something that was recognizable to Lashina on a primal level. It made her hesitate a little, and Artemiz used the opening to elbow her in the face and use her leg to push her off.

Lashina saw red and attacked her with everything she had. "Trickster, liar! Fight me right!" She demanded, ramming her opponent into a work table, and through a windowsill. They fell to the ground many stories below and Artemiz just looked up at her, stunned, confused somehow. She hated that look, so she started punching her in the face over and over, and it felt good. Then she felt it, Artemiz buried her hand in her belly, the molecules and energy of her phasing into her jaggedly. She screamed and Artemiz kicked her off, tearing her hand out of her as she did.

She got to her feet, holding her belly, she was bleeding energy. She looked at her opponent who was getting to her feet, grim determination and some kind of... despair... in her eyes. Her hand was hurt, smoldering, and she was a little shaky on her feet.

"You are my wife, Lasha. And I love you above all, but if I must beat that truth back into your stubborn head, by the Source I swear I will." She pledged.

Lashina just looked into this woman's eyes. The things she was saying made no sense. She remembered Artemiz, of course she did; they were both Furies, like sisters, but they had never been lovers, had they? J'ann was her lover... J'ann... She remembered such passion, such fire with her. She closed her eyes and shook her head, opening them and staring into Artemiz's eyes again. "Lies. All lies. Creatures like you, like I used to be, we only know darkness, but... but I will fight to live in the light again. And if it means your death, then you die, sister. Your death, or mine." She willed the energy to stop bleeding from her and unfurled her lashes. "No more talk; to the death!"

She charged, but an explosion flashed in her path and knocked her back. She managed to land on her feet and looked to see a man she recognized standing on a wall nearby. "Kanto." She narrowed her eyes at him, wanting badly to fight and kill him, then looked at Artemiz who had recovered as well.

She quickly assessed her chances and decided on tactical retreat. She cracked her lashes together and made a flare blast that blew her attackers back, and she ran, though it disgusted her to the core to do it. She needed to find her way back to J'ann. She'd heard what Artemiz had promised, and she knew, she needed to be by her lover's side, to protect her! And to feel her touch again, in the light... She was going a little mad for the wanting of it.

It felt like she had been lost for so long somehow, and she just wanted to find what something inside of her told her that she needed. It confused her. It also drove her onward. But, to have her answers, to have her lover again, she needed something.

She needed a mother box.

\--- ARTEMIZ ---

Artemiz got to her feet after Lashina's blast faded away and she could sense the world around her again. "Lasha?" She looked around frantically. "Where are you?!" She dropped to her knees and screamed, in rage; in fear, fury, longing. Her emotions were raw, and energy pulsed and blew off her. She got herself under control though, and looked at her brother, Kanto. The look in his eyes when their eyes met, it was genuine fear. He was afraid of her. A small part of her smiled, he'd never looked at her that way before. But then, she imagined she'd never looked on him the way she was now. Like she would rip him apart without any care. And she would. She was beyond caring or mercy right now. Lasha had been ripped from her, in the cruelest way possible, and oh how she'd make them -pay-. It didn't even really matter to her right then if it was someone who was completely uninvolved; she just wanted to hurt something, make it scream like she was still screaming inside. "You're going to do something for me, brother, and you're not going to waste my time arguing, are you?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, sister dear." He smiled a little to her, looking at her now with... fascination. Her teeth had sharpened, her eyes were animalistic, her hands were clawed and sharp. It was their family's hidden nature. It was why they were such good hunters. Also why they were something of the outcast. Lashina had loved her anyway. Loved the beast in her even. Taken her as her mate, and her status had risen from it. She was now one of the elite. Honored, feared; her sisters respected her. Her brother had advanced as well. Their family had been redeemed.

She reached out and grabbed her brother's forehead, ramming the mental impression of J'ann J'onzz into his mind, along with that of Kal El for good measure. "Make the mind-whore suffer, Kanto. Torture her, kill her friends, her lovers--be cruel, be thorough, drag it out... Kill any happiness or joy in her life... Do your worst; only do not kill her. I'll rip you apart with my bear hands you if you do; even if you are my brother. She's going to suffer for centuries... I'll make an art of it." She kissed his forehead and shoved him away from her. "Now go; my Lasha needs me now, as she never has." She turned away from him and flew up in the air and back to her and Lashina's home. She called her dogs and her harem to her, all of them, and bid them go and find her lover. Then she flew off into the heart of the city. Lashina, the way she was now, though she knew her less than she always had it seemed, she knew if she had been separated from her, her Lasha would do anything to find her again. And the mind-whore had stolen that, stolen her Lasha for herself; so it followed Lashina would seek a way to find the thieving slut who'd stolen her. For that, she'd need a mother box.

She also needed to find Lasha before their sisters found out. The shame she'd feel if they found out a bug, even a dragon-fly like the green witch, had... had hurt her so. And for Lasha it would be even worse. That was a humiliation she did not want her or her wife to suffer, especially not Lasha. This wasn't her fault after all... If it was anyone's, it was her own. Lasha was her wife; if she hadn't been able to keep her, Artemiz knew it was her own fault.

It was a sin she needed to wipe from her soul. She would find her wife, she would get her back, even if she had to beat and rape and bite and claw her way back into her heart. They were meant for each other, there was no other way for her.

\--- KAL ---

She was alone in her room at her cousin Kara's. The sun was coming in through the windows still; it was about four in the afternoon. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in a white dress shirt not buttoned up all the way and some underwear and shorts she'd borrowed from her cousin. They were the same size. She had her arms wrapped over her chest and she was trying not to cry. Her emotions were a mess and she didn't know what to do with herself. She'd wanted to be alone though, so she'd gone to her room; after several hours with them she'd begged off her cousin and cousin-in-law's continued offers for company, saying she needed time alone to process things.

She felt trapped a little, and part scared, part frustrated. She got up and went to the full length mirror and just stood there looking at herself. She touched her hair, looking into her own eyes, trying to recognize herself, recognize -himself- she told herself. She was supposed to be a him. It was weird. In one way, this, how her body had changed, felt alien to her, but in another very deep way, it felt natural. Like she'd maybe... maybe always been like this. She brought one hand to her chest, and ran it slowly down to her sex. She bit her lip a little and couldn't help but think of her, of Artemiz. "I'm your pet, and I just want to... I just want to make you smile..." She spoke the words softly to the reflection, imagining it was Artemiz she was seeing. Tears fell and she started crying. She went over and sat on the floor against her bed, laying her head on her knees, her hands on her bare feet; she just let the tears come.

"Lois..." She spoke the name softly, after she didn't know how long. Her tears had stopped and she'd folded her arms together on her knees and laid her head on them like a pillow. Saying Lois's name, it did give her a good feeling. Lois, she preferred women, right? Well... maybe this was a good thing to have happened then, right? Maybe... maybe this was meant to be.

Her eyes watered up a little and, frustrated, she wiped the tears away. "Why is this so hard?" She asked softly. A part of her, a big part, just wanted someone to take charge of her, like Artemiz had. Thinking of Artemiz was at the same time repulsive and so alluring; it made her feel warm inside, but also ashamed. It was maddening--she wanted something. A big part of her just wanted Artemiz to come back for her; but if that was going to happen, it wasn't up to her. And, of course, rationally, she very much didn't want that to happen at all. She never wanted to see that woman, that... whatever she was, again. Rationally, she wished this never happened. But her heart? Her heart was telling her different. Her heart was telling her she was... that she was someone's abandoned pet, scared and alone, without even her collar.

It was exhausting, and she was angry at... something... which was even more tiring, so she decided... she decided she'd just go to bed early. So, she got up, took her clothes off, and got into bed, curling up in a ball. "I'm your pet, and I just want to... I just want to make you smile..." She spoke again softly to herself again. Finding both comfort and distress in saying the words, she let herself fall into a fitful sleep.

\--- J'ANN ---

She'd gone home and gotten a change of clothes. Cat had been there with Lori and they'd asked what had happened; Cat clearly worried and sensing something wrong, but Lois had basically brushed her off and left as soon as she could. Now she was across town, unlocking the door to Erica's penthouse with the key Erica had given her; the house staff having been advised that she was welcome anytime as well. No one was there tonight though; Erica had given her maids the time off while she was away. So Lois just made her way to the main bedroom, took off her clothes, and climbed into bed; snuggling up by herself in the middle of the bed, comforted by Erica's lingering scent. She thought of everything that had happened.

Everything had just been too raw for her to share it with Cat right now. That was the first time she'd ever felt like that. Until now, she'd shared everything with Cat, and she felt guilty for not doing so now. She just couldn't though, not without making love with her. She wanted to do that so much that the temptation of being around her would just be too painful for her to bear right now.

And Clark. Clark was a woman now, which was an appealing thought (though she felt guilty a little for thinking it and wondered if that meant Lori might have been at least a little right about what she'd said before). And no doubt the female Clark would welcome her advances, but that would be... taking advantage. Clark, or Kal she supposed (she still thought of him as Clark though for some reason), wasn't in a state right now where it would be... fully consensual for her. She knew what Artemiz had done to her; or the broad strokes of it at least, if not the detail. And Lois had changed herself to be somewhat like Artemiz; she'd dampened those changes back some since, but she couldn't undo what she'd done to herself much more than that, not really. If she went to Clark right now, if she showed interest, made love to her, she was sure there would be no way... just no way that could be considered consensual on Clark's part; to a not-insignificant degree, it might even be considered rape. And the thought of doing that to her, it was just... well, it was repellant; she could hardly think of many things less appealing to her than the idea of doing that.

And then there was Lasha... Lashina. Strangely, she felt guilty for that. For making the woman love her, even for making herself love Lashina. For basically trampling over and stealing the love the two of them shared. True, she hadn't really been given a better choice (death, slavery, or running and leaving Clark to death or slavery were probably her only other options), but still that's how she felt. And more so because she still wanted Lasha for her own. Honestly, a part of her wanted to kill Artemiz so she could take her place and have Lasha to herself. Surely she'd be a better mate than Artemiz, right? A kinder one, at least.

She cried out in frustration. So many feelings, serious 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you' feelings, that she had for these different people, these different women. She couldn't have them all; it would be seriously messed up to even want that, and really, practically, she didn't want that. Maybe two, or three mates would be okay, theoretically, her night with Erica had softened her on that idea, but more? Fuck, she didn't even have one tonight. At this point, that's all she wanted, just one right now. That wasn't to be though, so she forced herself to sleep, to give her mind time to sort itself out away from the moray of conscious thoughts.

\--- KAL ---

It was a little after two in the morning when she woke, sitting up in bed and loosely wrapping her arms around her legs. She knew she wouldn't be able to get herself to fall back asleep again. Strangely though, she was feeling a little better, a little more steady, a little more like her old self again. She thought of herself saying that thing about being Artemiz's pet last night and shivered a little. Both because she could hardly believe she'd said that and because part of her actually still very much wanted to be Artemiz's pet. That she felt herself better able to manage that part of herself now, was the real difference.

After sitting there a little while, then getting up and aimlessly walking around her room in the dark for a little, she decided she needed to get away somewhere so she could have some time to think. She went and got her borrowed underwear and put on a plain white dress shirt and some black jeans from her own clothes. While she was getting dressed, she thought of Lois and at once longed to talk with her, be kissing her, but at the same time she couldn't quite bring herself to face her either. "She's probably asleep by now anyway... Smallville." Using Lois's nickname for her made her smile.

She sighed and experimentally walked out onto her room's balcony. She was immediately greeted by the more intense sounds of the city. She looked at the plants and the table and chairs on the balcony then walked out under the night sky. She looked up and saw a nearly full moon in a clear sky. The temperature was cool to moderate, not that she really felt it the same as humans she imagined. There was a little of a breeze that felt nice on her face, in her longer hair. She touched her hair and realized she liked it this way. She walked up to the edge of the balcony and looked out over the city. The city was, as always, alive with life, even at this hour. Lights, cars, people--she looked at an office building and curiously saw that there were even a few people still at work. It made her feel less alone somehow, that she was by no means the only one awake at this hour. She put her hands on the railing and looked up at the sky again, at the moon.

"I could go up there." She spoke softly to the night. She had a few times actually, just to see, to experience it. Because she could. She didn't want to do that again now, but the idea that she could do it felt good. Looking out over the city, it felt peaceful, safe to her, even though she knew it wasn't always necessarily safe to others. It, the world itself, had always felt kind of safe to her. Not emotionally exactly, just essentially; essentially she'd always known, felt secure in the knowledge that nothing could really hurt her. Now she knew that something, some people, could really hurt her. Could so completely overwhelm her. Just Artemiz's presence, her power and energy; she was a goddess... or so Lois had indicated. A real deity as though from myth, and Kal could believe it too. Easily believe it was true. She shivered a little and wrapped her arms around herself. She looked out at the city again though, and thought: 'hey, Artemiz isn't here, neither is Lashina.' She was safe. She was free. For now at least. It was a good feeling. She made a choice and floated off into the air, flying up until she had an even better view. Then she looked over at that area of Old Gotham she'd been frequenting lately and smiled a little, flying off towards the comfort of the familiar.

Maybe her friend would even be waiting for her there.

She'd stopped a house robbery and prevented a rape. She'd... it had taken her a lot of effort not to kill the man who'd tried to rape that girl. The girl had been high on some kind of drug (her attacker had been too) and she was crying and incoherent after Kal had saved her. Kal had always hated scenes like that one, now she did even more, in a way that was a lot... more personal. How people could... could do something like that to one another... She just didn't understand it. It made her angry, and frustrated, and made her feel helpless all over again. She wanted to scream, or hit someone; Artemiz maybe, or... or kiss her... she had to admit to that too. What Artemiz had done to her, on one level it was the same as what that man had tried to do to that girl--to use power to take, but on another level... On another level, it was very different. Artemiz had actually made her -want- to be taken, want to... to be her pet... to make her smile... Those words just refused to leave her, didn't they? And how much of that was actually Artemiz and how much of it was really something inside herself that Artemiz has just... brought out? Thinking about it reasonably, it did make sense kind of; she was an orphan twice over, and knew there was a longing there. To belong, to be accepted; a part of instead of apart from. In other words, just to be... loved.

She'd taken the girl back home; the girl clinging to her like a lifeline. She'd stayed and helped the girl's father get her in bed. Luckily, Kal had been there before anything truly horrible had happened--she'd just been scared, had her shirt ripped, and had a cut on her arm; which her father had fixed up.

Her father, Brian Kincaid, was a nurse at the local hospital. Bisexual. He'd married the girl's mother, a fire fighter, and the mother had died in a fire. Right now, he was in a committed relationship with a doctor at his hospital, a man. It wasn't at the marriage stage yet, and he wasn't sure he or his daughter were ready for that yet. Kal spent some time talking with him. Brian told her how his daughter, Chelsea Marks (she'd kept her mother's surname), had been acting out more and more lately. He hoped it was because she was a teenager and not because he was a bad father or that his daughter just didn't like his new love interest. Which she seemed not to very much, as far as Brian could tell. Kal told him that what she thought what the girl needed most was to know she was loved and had a home where she really belonged. And she needed someone to really listen to her. Drug counseling probably wouldn't be a bad idea either. Not that, she acknowledged, she was any expert or anything. Brian took the somewhat shy advice well, she thought. And she had been shy around him because he'd been flirting with her... which made her feel confused, and also made her doubt how 'committed' his relationship with that doctor of his really was.

She excused herself and walked a few blocks to a coffee shop and got some green tea. She took it to go and wound up on the same rooftop Bruce had met her, well, she supposed it was yesterday now, and told her he'd figured out she was Clark Kent. She was sitting there a while later, tea gone, hands on the roof ledge, feet dangling over, like she were sitting by the edge of a pool, when she heard a barely noticeable, yet familiar sound and smiled. "Heard you that time, just barely." She spoke, without turning a round.

"Who are you?" Bruce's guarded voice asked.

"You know, I'm Clark Kent, right?" She answered softly. "Some changes may have been made since the last time we talked, but it's still me..."

Bruce cautiously went over to her and knelt by her. "Look at me. You're Clark, look me in the eyes and say it again."

She met his eyes with an attempt at a smile. "Bruce, it's me, okay? Something... happened to me yesterday."

"The Deerfield building." Bruce ventured, sitting down next to her. "I saw it on the news--heard the blast in my car actually." He told. "...You want to tell me how this happened?" He looked at her a little strangely.

"What?" She asked, not sure what to make of that look.

"Nothing, it's only... You're very beautiful." He told her. "It's strange, that's all."

Kal smiled. A real smile this time. "Yeah, it is. I appreciate the complement though." She replied a little shyly.

"...What happened to you, Clark?" Bruce asked.

"A, um... I fought, or tried to fight these two... They appeared from a tunnel in the air--this loud 'boom'; she had metal dogs whose teeth hurt me when they bit. She, a dark goddess... her name was Artemiz... she overpowered me, hit me through the roof, put... put a collar on me. It changed me... into a woman, and then she just... raped me. And I let her, because she just sort of... got inside me and made me want to do, to be, what she wanted me to be... If it wasn't for... I had help. I lost to her Bruce, -was- lost to her, completely. There was nothing I could do..." And she realized she was crying silently.

Bruce reached over and wiped her tears away gently. She smiled to him weakly. "I... I'm so sorry that happened to you, Clark." He tried to console her, his voice at once grave and comforting. "To think of... To think there are beings out there with power on that scale, to do something like that, even to someone like you." He looked off into the night.

"It's like you stood on the moon for the first time." Kal replied softly. "A... um, a shift in how you see things. Join the club." She offered a little ruefully, wiping at stray tears.

"You've stood on the moon, huh?" Bruce asked. "How was that?"

"Brighter than I expected, but... really beautiful." She answered.

They just sat there for a while, Kal reaching over to take Bruce's hand in hers. Surprisingly, he let her.

"Is this permanent, your change? Or do you know?" Bruce finally asked.

"No idea. Cousin Kara's probably working on a 'cure' or something." She told him. "I'm not sure I really care either way though. To be honest, I've had other things on my mind." She admitted.

"Mm. I can imagine you would." He replied. "If you... want to talk about it?" He offered.

Kal smiled. "Would you say we're friends, Bruce?" She asked, looking over to him.

"I... no. But, I'd say we're... working on it." He offered a little of a smile, seeming to let his guard down a little.

Kal nodded. "So, can we work on it tonight then? Because, um, honestly, I think I could really use a friend right now." She confided.

He smiled a little. "All right. I suppose we could do that."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	8. Bat-Shaped Pancakes?

PART 8: BAT-SHAPED PANCAKES?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- KAL (continued) ---

"Come to think of it, I suppose I haven't formally met Bruce Wayne yet, have I?" She asked.

"That's one way of looking at it." Bruce allowed.

"What's the other way?" She asked.

"Mm. Bruce Wayne is mostly an act, honestly." He admitted.

"And, Batman, he's your true self?" She asked back.

"More so. Or in part. But no, probably not." He admitted. "Behind the masks, I'm not sure I really know."

"Huh, a challenge then." She smiled.

"That's one way of looking at it." Bruce repeated with a hint of a smile.

She nudged him in the side with her shoulder a little. "Where to then?" She asked.

Bruce got up and offered her and hand up; she took it even though she obviously didn't need it.

"I could take you where I go whenever I need, whenever things start getting to me?" He offered.

"Okay." Kal nodded easily. "Who are you going as?" She teased gently.

"Wayne." He answered. "I'll have to change first." He allowed.

Kal went with him to an out of the way building that looked like it was condemned. Through a roof access they went, and Kal found herself in a room outfitted with everything a man would need to be Batman. "One of my safe-houses." He explained, taking off his cowl and going to change. "I'll just be a minute. Grab some shoes, okay?"

"Mm?" Kal looked down at her bare feet. "Oh, right." She smiled. Going over and getting some socks and shoes. The shoes were big on her though. "The shoes don't fit. I'll be right back." She called to him.

"What? Clark?" Bruce called, but she was gone. She moved at super-speed to a nearby women's shoe store, picked out a pair of stylish looking dress sandals, paid for them, and was back in around five minutes.

"I'm back." She informed.

Bruce walked into the room, putting on a white dress shirt. She had a view of his chest and had to stop herself from staring a little.

"Where did you..." He looked at her feet.

"Shoe shopping. My feet are smaller now. Why I wasn't wearing shoes." She explained.

"Right." Bruce conceded, meeting her eyes for a second then going about buttoning up his shirt.

"So, um, where's this place you're taking me?" Kal asked, sitting on a stool at what looked like a work bench where he put together his various crime-fighting gear.

"...The street my parents were killed." Bruce answered, grabbing a jacket and putting it on, looking at himself in the mirror briefly, then looking to her.

Their eyes met. "Why?" She asked.

"...You'll see." Was all he said. "Shall we go?" He asked, walking to her and offering his hand again.

She took it. "I guess I'll just have to trust you."

Bruce shook his head a little. "That's quite a statement, from you." He answered.

"What do you mean?" Kal asked.

Bruce smiled. "As powerless as you were against this... Artemiz? That's how helpless I, or any human, is compared to you, Clark--if you ever made that decision. I think, between us, I'm the one who'll always have to take more on trust, don't you think?" He asked.

Kal could tell Bruce was probably just saying that to gauge her reaction, but it still stung her a little. "I never would." She answered softly, looking down then looking back up to meet his eyes. "And in any case, as a matter of practicality, on a person to person basis, I'm not all that much more of a safety risk than a random person on the street when you come down to it... People, humans at least, are fragile Bruce. One to one, most regular people would be nearly as incapable of defending themselves against some as well trained and well equipped as you are as they would be against me, after all. And even between one regular person and another, all it takes is a kitchen knife or a rock from the side of a road... It's only our ethics and character that make the difference. And by now, on that count, I think you should know, you're safe from me. Always... well, assuming you never make that decision you spoke of either of course." She pointed out.

"Never." He smiled to her, seemingly satisfied, and a little thoughtful.

"Right... so, um, weren't you saying something about 'Shall we go?'" She asked, realizing she actually was flirting with him a little. Which, in general, he didn't have a problem with. Bruce was a very attractive man, after all, and she'd be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to him, as a man or a woman. And, as long as flirting was all she did, that would be fine. But... she wasn't exactly feeling all that in control of her emotions right now, after what Artemiz had done to her. She wasn't quite sure she trusted herself, trusted her ability to say no if Bruce happened to return her interest. True, she and Lois weren't... well, Lois was dating Erica Del Portenza while she was dating her, so it's not like she had any right to an exclusive claim on her, but she -wanted- to be exclusive with Lois... or at least she thought that's what she still wanted. The way she was feeling now, it was hard to tell even that for sure anymore. She was sure Bruce was her friend though, or she wanted him as a friend--she didn't want to mess that up. She just felt... safe with him somehow. Bruce, this part of the city, it had come to mean something to her. It had come to mean a lot to her, actually.

"Right you are." He conceded.

They left then. He had a nondescript car (among three other vehicles) stashed in the building; his garage letting out into an ally.

During the drive, Bruce told her about where they were going. A neighborhood clinic and community center he'd had built in honor of his parents. Kal was impressed, and looking forward to seeing it. He had five more of them in the city and was working on a sixth right now.

"Here we are." He parked in back and they got out. A young man waved to them.

"Bruce! Hey!" He called.

"Hey Jamie." The two met and shook hands. "This is El, a... friend." He introduced her. Bruce had asked her about a name to call her in front of other people in the car. She couldn't very well go around calling herself Clark Kent like this without it leading to a lot of questions potentially; and 'Kal', well, it was masculine sounding, though he didn't much care about that, per see--still, it could potentially connect her to Kal-El/Superman, which he wanted to avoid of course, so that was out too. So, she'd settled on El, which could easily be short for Ella, Elena, or Elisabeth, and wouldn't be likely to compromise her identities... assuming she ever got back to being a 'he', she supposed... It wasn't a sure thing, after all, and she didn't really know for sure that she wanted to be a man again--it mostly still felt... very confusing to her.

In any case, 'El' offered her hand and Jamie took it, shaking hands with her. "Nice to meet you." She greeted him.

"Likewise." Jamie replied.

Pleasantries taken care of, they offered to help Jamie, a nurse, with what he was doing--bringing in a shipment of medical and more general supplies that had been dropped off a minute or two before. Next, Bruce introduced her to Dr. Leslie Tompkins, who oversaw a network of clinics for him; not just the ones in his community centers. She was an old friend of his father's, and Kal really enjoyed meeting her and talking with her.

Later, Bruce took her to see the community center itself. It was a nice place, just opened up for the day a half-hour or so ago so it wasn't all that busy yet.

"This used to be called Crime Ally." Bruce told her softly, one ten-cent tour later, as he leaned against the railing on the second floor, Kal standing opposite him. "My parents and I, we were walking home from the theater. There was a mugger, he had a gun, and... well, the rest is obvious I suppose... I suppose you'd say that was my defining moment. It led to Batman, led to this. I... just couldn't stand to let this place stay as it was, stay a place where children could so easily lose their parents like I lost mine."

She stepped closer to him and took his hands, meeting his eyes. "They would have been proud of you." She spoke.

He smiled a little, and after a beat, he stopped leaning on the railing and let her hands go. "So, anyway, on with the tour?" He offered.

She nodded.

"I looked into you, you know. Into Clark Kent." Bruce admitted. "According to records, your parents died when you weren't that much older than me... Is that true?" He asked.

Kal nodded. "It's true. They, they weren't my biological parents, -they- died on Krypton when I was a baby; but the Kents found me, took me in." She explained softly. "No less a defining moment though, I suppose, when I lost them. Car accident. T-boned by a sleep-deprived trucker. Happened so fast I couldn't do anything. I survived, not a scratch, obviously... They weren't so lucky."

Bruce was quiet as they walked. "Seems like we're not as different as you seem to think. Species aside." Kal offered.

Bruce stopped and their eyes met, he smiled a little. "Give me more credit than that, okay?" He replied.

Kal smiled. "Okay." She agreed. "Um, game of basketball?" She asked, looking over the stairs to the indoor basketball court.

"Mm. Not that I'm afraid to lose badly mind you, but, for curiosity's sake, how exactly would that be even remotely fair?" Bruce asked.

Kal shrugged. "It just would be. I don't know how exactly I'm able to do it, but I can approximate human strength levels, no problem. Think about it, Bruce--if I couldn't do that, how could I even manage interact with people without hurting them by accident? When we play, you'll be playing the equivalent to a normal human woman. Well, one whose mind works a lot faster than yours, I can't change that, but somehow I don't think that'll make a whole lot of difference when it comes to you. You're unusually quick that way, for a human." She teased.

"Mm, thanks for the complement, I guess." Bruce answered doubtfully. "Alright, you're on."

It ended up being quite a competitive game, a lot of people came over to watch; Kal saw one woman taking a video with her iPhone, a few others took pictures. "Headline, Bruce Wayne slam-dunks on mystery brunette." Kal joked. "Is it a date, or is Wayne practicing for the NBA?" She stole the ball from him and danced away, fading back for a three-point shot.

"Not the NBA, obviously." Bruce joked of the stolen ball. The score was close though, Kal had just gotten ahead again with that shot in fact.

"We should stop soon; people might notice I'm not sweating." She offered with a little regret. "Next point wins?"

Bruce used some martial arts kinda move and got the point.

"Did you let me win?" He asked as they walked off the court.

"Nope. Like I said, just made it a fair contest." Kal answered. "You can thank that ninja stuff you pulled at the end for the win."

"Thank you, ninja stuff." Bruce replied, and Kal laughed.

"You made a joke?" She was surprised at that.

"I can make jokes you know." He answered.

"Can you cook?" She asked playfully, finding the mental image funny. Batman in the kitchen = Bat-shaped pancakes.

"Only a few things, necessities." He answered.

"Mm. What now?" She asked, nobly resisting the urge to make a joke about Bat-shaped pancakes. "Breakfast?" It was a bit after seven in the morning.

"Sounds good." He agreed.

\--- J'ANN ---

Lois awoke to the sound of a door opening. "Erica." She smiled to herself, sensing Erica, as well as Margot and Aliki, entering the home. They soon entered the bedroom and Lois sat up and smiled to them. "Welcome back." She offered in greeting.

"Mm, obviously. Lucky me." Answered Erica, walking over to the bed, taking off her shoes and going over to Lois on the bed, kissing her. Margot and Aliki sitting down on opposite sides of her. "I'm so glad you're here, Spain was such a trial. You're just what I need to pick up my spirits."

"Mutual." Lois agreed.

Margot stroked her chin and turned her head towards her for a kiss. "For us too."

"We missed you." Aliki offered, turning her head the other way and kissing her too.

"Um, ladies, could I have a little time with Lois to myself? I think there are things we need to talk about." Erica asked.

"Mm," Margot looked to her sister who nodded. "We'll be in the shower then."

"Be good while we're gone, yes?" Aliki asked flirtingly which made Lois giggle just a little bit.

Lois met Erica's eyes and stayed on them until the door shut, then they came together for a longer kiss. Erica moved forward and lay Lois back on the bed, coming over her and continuing to kiss her, Lois working to unbutton Erica's shirt.

"Mm, I've missed you." Erica told, snuggling up on top of Lois and resting her head next to hers. "So, what brings you to my bed, hmm? And... why do I have the feeling it's not something pleasant, such as you simply wanting to be with me again as soon as possible?"

Lois smiled, holding her lover to her gratefully. "Actually... I had a, a really horrible day yesterday. One of the worst days of my life actually. Which, naturally, made me want to be with you again as soon as possible... So, here I am." Lois smiled, kissing Erica.

"Would you like to tell be about it?" Erica asked.

"Later, maybe." Lois answered softly, kissing her lover again. "For now..." She looked gratefully into Erica's ever mysterious but oh-so familiar, welcoming, and alluring eyes. "I just want to be with you."

Erica smiled and moved to kiss her. Lois just loved kissing this woman. "Mm, you need some fun, I think, yes?" She asked.

"Badly." Lois smiled.

"Let's go join them in the shower then, hmm?" Erica offered. "Besides, I probably smell like an airplane, don't I?"

"I hadn't noticed if you do." Lois told, kissing her again.

"Sweet talker, magic tongue." Erica answered, nipping at Lois's tongue playfully.

Lois giggled a little and kissed her, hugged her. "I'm so happy you're back." She spoke.

"Really, and what about this Kent person, hmm?" Erica inquired. "Don't look so surprised, I do have private investigators you know. I was surprised to find my competition a man though--not that there's anything wrong with that."

Lois shook her head a little. "I don't think things are going to work out with him." She answered honestly. And it seemed obvious to her now that they wouldn't. It was too complicated, too hard, too much had happened. Two people with so much tragedy in their pasts getting together? It was like asking to be hurt, wasn't it? She just wanted someone... someone she didn't have to try so hard for. Someone who wasn't so much... like her, like that part of her that was hurt. "I... want to try with you, seriously try. If you're willing?"

Erica smiled brilliantly. "You know, I think I just might be at that." She kissed her. "Now, come on, get wet with me?" She took Lois's hands and moved back, pulling a willing Lois along with her.

Lois laughed and went with her, getting Erica out of her shirt and pants on the way. They stepped through the door and... and everything in Lois felt like she'd had the breath stolen from her and had ice water thrown at her.

There was a man in the shower, a god, and he'd just cut Aliki's throat, murdered her. His eyes met hers and she took a step back, her hands, one over the other over her heart. She looked over and saw Margot on the floor, leg broken, holding a broken arm. Their eyes met; there was just... desolation there, lost hope, some anger, and tears... Her sister was dead, her lover, the one she loved most of all; even without being a telepath, Lois would know that feeling for what it was. With being a telepath? It was... torture, cruelty, all but the very last thing she'd ever wanted to be forced to feel again, and it was worse because Margot was, if not being someone she was in love with, someone she cared for intensely.

"My sister, Artemiz, sends her very kind regards, J'ann J'onzz. I am Kanto... She really hates you, you know? With an intensity I have rarely ever seen in my long and storied life." He told, dropping Aliki's body to the floor and stepping over it. "I've... never seen her like I saw her today. It was beautiful. What you must have done to her..." He shook his head and smiled, a little in wonder.

The more she looked at him, the more sheer fury she felt. He was just... talking to her, whipping off his knife, like he had nothing to fear and this, Aliki's death, was just... nothing to him. She felt walls closing in on her heart, fire burning in her in some arid place. Fear, hurt, trauma, and something else. Something dark and burning. She let it take her, and was at the assassin's throat before she could consciously think about it; knocking the knife from his hand, she sent thousands of needles into his mind, poured fire from her eyes into his, locked his mind down so he could not move. It was like time didn't matter; she felt him, felt his energy, knew it. Knew it intimately for what it was. The part of her that had become Artemiz, the part of her that had loved, still was very much in love with Lashina, the part that knew them, also knew this man, this god. And knew how to break him. And so she started to, tearing off parts of him, letting them float away. He screamed and she smiled and felt joy and made him scream that much louder. She had no words for this, no language, she just... just couldn't take this anymore. It was time for her to give some back.

So she did, she took her worst, the very, very worst thing in her, the death screams of her people, the deaths of billions that echoed in her mind every night; how it felt for her, the burning and terror and fear. And she poured it into him, even as tears fell from her eyes. It was too much, she threw him away from her. He was badly staggered.

"Blind... I'm blind; make it stop, please..." He held his head.

She felt like screaming herself, screaming until she couldn't scream anymore. But... she had to protect Erica and Margot, and at this point she didn't feel like she had much fight left in her. So she used her telekinesis to take the mother box from his waist, opened the window, told the mother box to open a BOOM tube out in the air, then forced him through it with her telekinesis and promptly fell to her knees and wept. Even with what she now knew she knew from Artemiz and Lashina's minds, much as she might viscerally want to in order to punish them for what they'd done, she wasn't at all sure she'd have the ability, or even the will in her, to actually kill a god or goddess. Besides which, she was pretty sure if she did manage it, unless she was very, very careful and very fast at it, there would probably be an explosion, maybe a very big one. Far better to send him away; and she'd kept his mother box--he was stranded in another star system a very long ways from here. He would find his way back, eventually, but, blind and damaged as he was, hopefully it would not be for a very long time indeed.

Someone put her arms around her in comfort, Erica, and Lois moved and clung to her as she cried.

She felt someone else though, Margot, and she got herself together enough to pull away from Erica and look. Margot had curled up next to her dead sister, closed her eyes, and was silently crying. She looked into her mind and realized she was in a deep state of shock. Lois looked into Erica's eyes then and saw so many things. She touched her face.

"Somehow, I... think there are some things you haven't told me about yourself." Erica spoke, tears falling from her eyes as well. She turned and looked at Margot and her sister. " I feel like... I'm stuck inside. There's... there's something in the air here." She told, sounding a little dazed. "I don't like it... She's really dead, isn't she...?" She sounded like she couldn't quite make herself accept that.

And it clicked into place, and Lois smiled softly. "That's it..." She whispered, letting go of Erica and crawling over to the sisters.

Margot looked at her blankly as Lois brought her hand to Aliki's hair, but then Margot lay her head down on her dead sister's shoulder again and stared blankly at nothing.

There were pieces of Kanto still floating here, pieces that she'd torn from him. Pieces of a god. Pieces she knew she could do things with, maybe even do the impossible.

They wouldn't last long, but while they were here, she might just be able to... "If I can just..." She grabbed hold of them with her mind and poured them into Aliki's body, willed them to rekindle the spark there, to go against their nature and heal instead of hurt. There wasn't much consciousness in them left, and what was there she was able to disperse; so she was able to do it, tired and raw as she felt. She put her hopes behind her efforts. There was a glow of radiance around them, and soon... Aliki opened her eyes, her eyes and skin glowing golden for a few seconds, then settling back to their normal color. "Fuck, I actually did it." She spoke, falling back, Erica catching her.

"Aliki? Sister? Is it you?" Margot stroked her sister's hair and looked into her eyes, both of them crying and smiling.

"It's me." Aliki answered softly.

"Oh, thank you, thank you." She exclaimed, kissing her sister over and over. "I felt like I had died too; oh my love, my beautiful one." She hugged her and Aliki hugged her back and Lois watched, a smile on her lips even as tears fell down her cheeks--but tears of happiness and relief this time.

Erica stroked her hair. "I am amazed... Completely amazed..." She told softly to her. "You... you truly brought her back from the dead." She spoke.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Lois answered.

"I... I had a son once... You, is it possible you might be..." Erica asked softly.

Lois was silent. "...I don't know. If I could rip apart pieces from another god near your son's grave, then... then maybe..." She finally answered.

Erica shook her head. They both watched the sisters, Margot was on top of her sister, just holding her and crying and kissing her reverently; Aliki holding her back and looking over at Lois in wonder a while, then looking up at the ceiling.

Lois got up and went over to them, putting her hand on Margot's back. "We... we should really see about.... you've been hurt, Mar."

Margot hugged her. "You saved her, you brought her back to me." She kissed her passionately, then looked her in the eyes. "I owe you my life too, as well as hers I think. If he had not killed me too, I... I surely would have died without her." She told, kissing her again. "Whatever sort of angel you are, thank you for blessing my sister with your light."

Aliki got up and hugged her sister from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder, her head leaning against her sister. Erica came over and touched their hair softly. "She... she's right; we need to take care of you, Margot." She looked into Aliki's eyes and cried a little more. "I'm so happy you're okay..." She told softly, reverently to her.

Aliki kissed her and Erica closed her eyes and let her.

Lois smiled at that. "Here, let me carry you." She offered Margot.

"No, I can..." Margot tried to get up but cried out in pain.

"It's no trouble." Lois assured, gently taking Margot in her arms and standing up as effortlessly as if she weighed nothing at all.

"Wow." Margot spoke softly.

Erica helped Aliki to her feet; Aliki was a little unsteady but seemed to be fine, not even a faint scar where she'd been cut. "What else can you do?" Erica asked.

Lois smiled softly. "Well, since you did ask." She floated off the ground a little and used her telekinesis to float Erica and Aliki as well.

Aliki laughed a little. "I can feel it, on my skin, just barely. Wonderful."

She smiled softly to Aliki and moved them all back to the bedroom and gently sat Margot down on the bed. "Is there a first aid kit?" She asked Erica.

Erica nodded. "I'll get it." She looked at the twins' wet hair. "And some towels for your hair." She added, going off to do that.

Aliki sat down next to her sister on the bed and caressed her and made cooing sounds over her, them both smiling to one another; Margot soaking up her sister's attentions greedily, like a starved woman who'd just found her oasis. Lois used her telekinesis to get a comb and sat down behind Margot, combing her tangled hair. "I'm so sorry this happened." She offered softly.

"Why did it happen?" Erica asked, handing Aliki the towels, sitting down on the bed next to Lois, and setting the first aid kit down before her.

Lois telepathically reached out to the nearest hospital and copied the medical skills of a doctor there, then set about treating Margot's injuries as best she could. "I made an enemy, and yesterday that enemy, Lashina, and her lover, Artemiz, attacked me. They were more powerful than me, and I wasn't alone, so I had to make one of them, Lashina, whose mind was the more vulnerable of the two, fall in love with me, and forget about her lover, in order to win... and so Artemiz, apparently sent her brother, Kanto the assassin, to make me suffer by killing the people I care about. She... Artemiz promised, she'd make me suffer like I've never suffered before. And, if you knew my past, you'd know... that is suffering on a scale I can barely conceive of..." She informed softly. "I didn't think... I didn't think this would happen so soon though..." She admitted softly. "I didn't think she would do it this way. I just... I guess I just didn't think..." She confessed, feeling very guilty. "Maybe I should go." She offered, looking to Erica. "I wouldn't blame you if you told me to go."

Erica smiled softly to her. "Well, that's not going to happen." She answered, dismissing the idea out of hand as though it had no sense at all to it. "I would like you to tell me... more about yourself though?" She asked. "You're, a meta-human? Or an alien, like Power Woman?" She asked further. "I knew there was -something- about you, I just could never get a sense for what it was. Not that it really mattered."

"Did you? Huh. And yes; an alien though, not meta-human." Lois explained.

"How does that work? I mean, Lois Lane has a family; you mentioned your sister at least?" Aliki asked.

Lois nodded. "You heard Kanto call me J'ann J'onzz? That's who I am." She explained. "Lois Lane was my best friend, and she disappeared." She looked at Erica. "This was before I met you, so you know." She smiled to her. "You've only ever been with me, not the real Lois Lane." She reassured her. Erica nodded, seeming a little relieved. "I searched for her, long and hard, but I couldn't find a trace of her..." She explained.

"Ah, so you took her place, hoping to draw her abductors, or murderers, out, yes?" Erica asked.

"Got it in one." Lois confirmed, smiling a little. "So far, no luck, and I've really blown my cover yesterday and today, but I'm still hopeful." Left unsaid was that she was suspecting more and more that the gods and goddesses of Apokolips where behind it; most likely at the behest of their human followers in Intergang. She still had no proof at all of course, but logic and her recent experiences were telling her they were prime suspects--after all, there was no one else that Lois Lane was investigating or could have made an enemy out of that she was aware of who would have the ability to do make her disappear and leave no trace whatsoever that she could find. Motive and means--they were the only ones she could find that definitely had both.

"So, you're a shape changer then?" Erica offered.

Lois nodded 'yes'.

"What do you really look like?" Margot asked as Lois set her leg.

Lois closed her eyes and shifted to her Martian form; female, bald, green, a little taller than Lois. She sighed. "It feels strange..." She admitted, looking down at herself. "I haven't been truly myself like this in what feels like such a long time." She smiled a little. The truth was, she hadn't been herself like this for a very, very long time actually. Female, in her Martian form. The first gender she'd chosen in her youth -had- been female, but years later she'd decided to switch to male in order to appeal more to the girl she liked at the time, who preferred males. It hadn't worked out with her in the end, but he'd gotten accustomed to being male so had stayed that way; ending up meeting M'Yri'ah and falling in love, marrying her. It wasn't uncommon for her people to switch as they aged though, as they grew and became different people. This was just her time, it seemed. She knew at least that she felt like a woman and had no desire to be otherwise. For now at least. Perhaps permanently. In her native Martian form, it felt even more right to her. Like closing one chapter in her life to start anew.

Erica smiled, appraising her apparently. "Mmm, you actually look very sexy like this... J'ann..."

J'ann smiled. "Well, thanks for that." She replied.

"...So, you said the word 'gods'?" Erica asked further, still looking at her with open interest and curiosity.

"Lashina, Artemiz, and Kanto, dark goddesses and gods from a world called Apokolips. From the same race as Gilotina from the S.C.U.." Lois supplied.

"And you made this Lashina fall in love with you and forget Artemiz, so now Artemiz wants you to suffer--is that about the size of things?" Margot asked, a little despair and fear slipping into her voice.

"More or less. I... had to make myself fall in love with her back for it to work though." She admitted quietly. "True, real love... Another reason why yesterday was so bad. And I do kind of feel bad, but it was life or death, you know? I didn't really have a choice."

"Have you been reading our minds then?" Aliki asked curious.

Lois looked to her. "Mostly just while making love for you and Margot. And not deeply or anything, just what you were thinking and feeling in the moment." She admitted softly. "I can't really help that, it's just natural for me. For Erica though, I can't read her mind at all, I just get these vague feelings and impressions." She explained, looking meaningfully into Erica's eyes. "So we were both keeping secrets." She smiled a little to her.

"She's a twenty-five hundred something year old sorceress." Aliki replied.

"Of only some minor talent." Erica amended modestly.

Lois smiled, looking at Erica and tilting her head a little. "Huh, we're about the same age then; only a few hundred years difference. Even more compatible than I thought."

Erica looked surprised. "Really?"

"Mm, my people don't die of natural aging; or, at least it's never been recorded if it's happened." She explained.

"That is a nice feature." Erica answered, looking at her with new eyes, then laying back on the bed and looking at the ceiling. "I've had so many loves, you know. Almost all are dead now. It would be nice not to have that misery and pain to look forward to for once." She admitted. "To know that, even if it doesn't turn into a happily ever after with you, that at least I won't have to watch you... die one day..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	9. We Live Together, We Burn Apart

PART 9: WE LIVE TOGETHER, WE BURN APART

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- KAL ---

She was back at her place, Clark's place at least. She walked in and shut the apartment door behind her, looking around. It felt familiar, which was a good feeling, but she also felt a little like she was seeing it through new eyes; and, honestly, she had yet to decide if that was anything like a good thing or not. Really, at this point, she was mostly trying not to think about things too deeply. Inside, her feelings and her mind were still at odds.

And the fact that she could now admit to herself that she was attracted to Bruce romantically and wanted to sleep with him was just another complication. She didn't feel the same draw towards him as she did to Lois or even her own cousin now (as odd and disconcerting as that was)--she'd been -conditioned- to want that though, to want a woman to claim her as a mate--want Artemiz especially. So she guessed it just felt... safer with Bruce. Like she was more in control of herself with him, and she really did like him a lot. His smile; the way his eyes would sometimes betray him so much. And the memory of his naked chest wasn't hurting matters either in that regard.

She was feeling overly sexual, and she knew it, but that in and of itself wasn't a bad thing. She sighed as she sat down on the edge of her bed and put her face in her hands. Her heart was beating faster and her mind was starting to wonder in any number of directions at once. Mostly, she realized, she felt frustrated. Frustrated about Bruce, about Lois, but, honestly, mostly about Artemiz. It made her so mad at herself how much she still wanted to be with her.

She unbuttoned her shirt and felt one of her breasts, and it felt good. She lay back on her back, unbuttoned her pants and slipped her hand into her panties and sighed as she touched herself. It felt so nice, made her thoughts not race quite so much. As she penetrated herself, she tried to imagine Bruce on top of her, inside her--and it was a pleasing image--but one she couldn't hold for long, even though she tried. Thoughts of Artemiz being on top of her, taking her, even calling her pet--they just took her over and she couldn't stop it--she just fucked herself as hard as she could and longed feverishly for it to really be Artemiz who was doing it to her.

She just let herself feel all those feelings that she couldn't--didn't want to--stop welling up inside her. She remembered with vivid clarity how it felt when Artemiz had made love to her and she wanted it again; achingly badly, she wanted it.

After she'd climaxed, she lay there a while; her hand still between her legs. She ran her other hand through her hair and started crying, then sobbing. After it subsided a little, she brought the hand she'd used to pleasure herself to her lips and licked her fingers a little, then started sucking on them, imagining it was Artemiz's hand she was doing this for. She felt like her heart was breaking; like it had when she--when -he- and Lana had broken up--maybe even worse.

She thought of Lois and abruptly got up and paced. She went to the bathroom to wash her hand off and wipe the wetness between her legs off, then ran her hands through her hair. Lois was the most confusing part of all of this for her, and it was hard to even think of her. She was mad at her, furious, for driving Artemiz away; for taking her collar off. At the same time she was grateful to her for doing it; very much so. And she loved her; intellectually, she knew she did. But there was something else too--the look in her eyes when she'd seen her after the fight, when their eyes had met; she was scared of that look, and drawn to it, but mostly scared. It was an unreasoning fear; she had only a fleeting feeling what it was from. Just that, in that moment... Lois had looked so much like Artemiz. And she couldn't even name all the feelings that brought up in her. All she knew was that she was dreading seeing Lois again. Deep dread; like something between them would die and hurt her very badly just from looking into her eyes again.

There was a knock at the door. She looked through the wall and door and saw it was Ron Troupe, from the Planet. They were co-writing a piece about an old theater being re-purposed to be a playhouse in a poor neighborhood. They'd both wanted the story, so they'd decided to team up on it.

"Clark, you there partner?" Ron called.

Kal looked at her reflection in the mirror and whispered to herself--"Good question."

\--- J'ANN ---

J'ann (having changed back to her Lois guise again) was sitting at a stool by the counter next to the kitchen, watching Erica cook for her. Erica usually had a cook (an older woman named Yula), but Yula was out until tomorrow visiting family, so Erica had said she'd cook herself. Aliki and Margot had stayed in the bedroom; Aliki continuing to dote over her injured sister (whom Lois had fixed up and assured them she would be fine with time and rest), and Margot simply happy to be with her sister who she'd just seen die. "It smells really good." Lois complemented.

Erica smiled. "Well, when you've been alive as long as we have, you learn quite a few skills; am I right?"

"Mm, to a degree." Lois admitted. "My people were less prone to change than yours are. Which is kind of ironic with us being shape changers, I know. I suppose we valued consistency because we innately didn't have much of it. I'm probably one of the worst examples. I had the same vocation most of my life." She admitted.

Erica looked at her, surprised, then shook her head. "I can hardly imagine that. What was it then? This vocation of yours?"

"Mm, law enforcement I suppose you'd say. But that doesn't mean quite the same thing here as it did for my people. I had very little to do most of the time actually. Most people in my society were... settled. Many had no vocation at all, and no need for one. So I mostly just spent time with my wife, and friends of course ...and when we had children, with them as well."

"You lost them, didn't you?" Erica asked, not looking to her. "Like I lost my son."

"...I lost all of them; every one. As far as I know, I am the last of my people. The very last." She admitted softly.

Erica looked to her, a look of shock on her face. "How..."

"In fire... A plague. Their screams--their pain as they were burned to death all filling my mind as they died all around me... I went mad for years with it; and I still hear them, my wife and daughters most of all, whenever I sleep." She told softly.

Erica couldn't keep looking at her. "I can't imagine..."

"I don't want you to have to anyway." Lois answered.

Erica put down her cooking and went around the island, Lois turning on her stool to meet her. Erica took her hand and Lois stood; they hugged, just held each other for a while. "Thanks." Lois spoke.

Erica moved in and kissed her gently, sweetly. "Survival always brings pain, I know. But... joy as well, if you continue to seek it out." She told. "You must know this better than even I, mustn't you?" She asked softly.

"I've been learning." Lois replied, moving to kiss Erica again. "Tell me about you?" She asked.

Erica smiled softly. "Later." She replied. "When we are alone in bed together; when the sun is gone from the sky and we have made love, then I will tell you. Now... Now I cannot."

Lois stroked her cheek and Erica leaned into the caress. "That's more than fair." Lois agreed.

Erica kissed her again, pressing in close against Lois's body. Lois hummed with pleasure.

"You're really not afraid to be with me?" Lois asked. "After what happened?"

Erica smiled. "I don't scare easily, J'ann. But yes, I'm scared; I'd be a fool not to be. But, I also think you'll protect me, and that you're worth the risk regardless." She told. "If one isn't willing to risk all for love, what's the point of living anymore?" She asked her in a soft voice, kissing her again.

Lois kissed her back with all the passion she had in her; right then and there deciding that if and when Erica did ask her, she would marry this woman--no matter her past or the darkness in their future, and no matter her feelings for the other love interests in her life... Even though she knew that there was a good chance Lashina would come back for her at some point soon--honestly, she was trying her very hardest not to think about that.

As she looked into Erica's eyes when they parted kissing though, Lois couldn't help the dread in her. And the sickening knowledge that she'd probably have to find a way to kill Artemiz in order to stop her from following through on her threat any more than she already had. She felt a little ill with the knowledge in fact.

So, as she watched Erica go back to finish her cooking and looked after her longingly, all Lois really wanted was to not have to worry about any of that--for it not to exist--so she could simply have a happy life again with the woman before her somehow.

As unrealistic a flight of fancy as she knew it was likely to be.

\--- KAL ---

Kal was standing on the boardwalk by the water. She'd gone shopping and bought some new clothes for herself. She was wearing a sleeveless blouse, a skirt, and some sandals. Looking out over the water, it was a little cool out, but the sun was still shining through the white clouds and there were plenty of people out and about. She'd called Bruce and made plans with him for the evening before she left her apartment, and now she was just wondering around, trying to, well... find herself again, she supposed.

Kara, her cousin, chose that moment to land softly beside her, much to the delight of the people standing around them. "Kal, I think we should talk..." She started to say. Power Woman was a well-loved hero to the people of the city though, and several of them came over to say hello to her. She gave Kal an apologetic look. "Maybe I should have come in plain clothes." She admitted. "Come on." She made her apologies to her admirers took Kal's hand and Kal went with her into the air.

In the clouds, over the ocean, they stopped and their eyes met. "How are you doing with this?" Kara asked softly, taking her other hand so she was holding both of Kal's hands and looking into her eyes meaningfully, trying to gauge what she was feeling probably.

"Um, alright I guess." She answered. "I still miss her though..." She admitted the shameful truth.

"Who?" Kara asked.

"Artemiz." Kal replied. "I know I shouldn't, and intellectually, I hate it that I do, but... I do." She confessed.

"Oh." Kara answered simply.

"Has... Has Lois been by to see me?" She asked a little apprehensively.

"No, she hasn't." Kara related, a little disproval in her voice. "I have no idea where she is."

"Don't blame her." Kal replied. "I think it was as hard on her as it was on me, only... in different ways..." He told, not meeting her eyes.

"You'd know that better than me..." Kara answered softly. "I guess I'd just like the chance to talk with her about all this, that's all." Kara told her, moving in closer to her and tilting her chin up so their eyes met again. "I'm making progress understanding what that... What Artemiz did to you." She told. "I should be able to reverse it, or at least most of it; have you back to being a man at least soon. Are you going to be okay until then? Are you sure you don't want to come back and stay with me?"

Kal shook her head. "No. I just want to be by myself for a while." She answered. "And I have plans later, with... With a friend."

"Who?" Kara asked.

"Bruce Wayne?" She answered, not wanting to say Batman in case Kara checked up on her and made the connection about who Bruce Wayne was.

"You know he's Batman right?" Kara asked.

"Um..." Kal met her eyes again. She didn't know why she was surprised Kara knew that. "Yeah; it's how we met actually. Both trying to find the same murderer... He's a good friend."

Kara laughed a little and shook her head. "You made friends with him? Wonders never cease. I'm happy for you... Um, it is a good thing, right? He's not giving you menacing looks all the time or anything?" She joked.

Kal smiled. "No; he's... He's got a really nice smile in fact." She admitted softly.

"Huh." Kara replied, looking at her curiously. "Kal... Do you, um, are you attracted to him?"

"Yes, um, yeah; I am." She admitted.

"Why? Um, I mean, that's; that's great." She tried to cover.

Kal smiled to her. "You don't like him much, do you?" She asked.

"No, um, he's fine I guess. Just, he's usually kind of a jerk--to Helena especially; which-"

"Is the easiest way to get you seeing red; I know." Kal finished. "Maybe I'll talk to him about that."

"Why him?" Kara asked.

"Well, he's nice to me, and, um, he is kind of hot. I like how he looks at me. I just... I hope it's not too weird. I want to be with him." She confessed.

"What about Lois?" Kara asked softly.

"...I can't think about her right now for some reason." He admitted. "I try, and it's like; like I can't face her..." She told her.

"Why?" Kara asked softly.

Kal met her eyes again. "Lots of reasons I think. I'm mad at her for one thing; because she saved me, and I don't... I didn't; a part of me didn't want to be saved. It's not fair, but I still feel like that."

"What else?" Kara asked.

"I wasn't; I'm not... strong enough... for her." Kal admitted. "I let... I let this; I let Artemiz... and I liked it. If she still wants to be with me--if she does--well, then I wouldn't know why she would." She paused, a few tears falling. "And there's this... feeling..."

"What sort of feeling?" Kara asked gently, stroking her cousin's cheek a little.

"...Like, in my mind--Lois, and Artemiz--they almost... feel like the same person to me. It frightens me, because... Because if I see her again, I know I'll feel things for her that... That I don't want to feel again. It's bad enough I feel that way about Artemiz all the time, I... I don't think I could stand feeling that way about Lois; not about her." She told softly.

"So Batman's, what, a distraction?" Kara asked.

"No; not at all..." Kal protested, looking into Kara's eyes. "Kara, what's wrong?" She asked.

Kara shook her head and smiled. "Nothing." She kissed her on the cheek. "I'm, I'm happy for you. I, uh, you're sure you're going to be okay?" She asked.

"I don't see why not?" Kal replied, a little unsure.

"Okay then, I should; I should get back to work then... Um, have fun?" She offered, ruffling Kal's hair a little affectionately. "You're pretty like this, you know?" Kara told her. "Not that you weren't before, it's just..."

"I get it." Kal replied easily. Kara was only attracted to women, so obviously she wouldn't look at men the same way.

"Right." She smiled to him. "If you need me..." She offered.

"I know." Kal smiled.

"Okay." She agreed, turning and leaving.

Kal sighed and went back to the city; for some reason just wanting to be around people.

She found her way to a dance club called 'Bi-Curious' and kind of liked the name, so she went in. It was around five hours until her--what she found herself hoping was a date with Bruce, and the idea of dancing and meeting new people seemed to be a good one.

An hour later, she'd danced and flirted with a bunch of different people, men and women, and she found she was feeling in much higher spirits; more like she fit in. Everybody seemed to like her at least, and that felt good. It felt good just to, well, let her hair down would be one way of putting it. She was coming to realize that, as Clark, she'd put up certain barriers between herself and the rest of the world--maybe to protect herself from being hurt again--and now; now they didn't feel like they held her nearly so much, and that freedom was a good feeling.

It was a slow dance now, and she was dancing with a guy named Ian. He was as tall as her--dusty blonde hair--sleek and muscular, but like a model. He'd told her he didn't like to be tied down, and she believed him. It was a slower song, and they were close and he kissed her and she gladly let herself be kissed and returned the kiss, pleased when she felt his sex become erect in his pants. He was only wearing a vest over his chest and it wasn't buttoned. His skin was so warm and nice to touch. "You want to get out of here for a while?" He asked her.

She was very tempted. "I..." But then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of someone and her heart sped up. "No, I... need to go." She told him distractedly, leaving him and winding her way through the crowd to follow the woman she'd seen. She knew it wasn't her, but still...

She touched the woman on the shoulder. "Um, hi..." She spoke.

The woman turned to her and smiled. "Hi back." She replied, stepping closer.

She looked exactly like her; like Artemiz... Somehow, Kal just knew it wasn't her... or she didn't think it was her? She didn't feel the same at least--her energy was different. But Artemiz was a goddess, so maybe she could disguise even her energy patterns if she wanted? Kal's heart was hammering in her chest, and she could hardly think clearly. Desire faired so strongly in her; it almost made her dizzy. The woman was looking at her expectantly.

"I, uh... Would you dance with me? Please?" Kal asked her softly, feeling very meek somehow.

The woman stepped a little closer. "I don't think many people would say no if you asked them that; so yes." She replied, stepping closer still and wrapping her arms around her waist. "I'm Kate by the way... Kate Durant. Do we know each other...?" She asked.

"El..." Kal answered spontaneously. "Short for Ella... Lang... Ella Lang." She corrected uncertainly, wrapping her arms around Kate in return and swaying with her when she started to move.

"So, El, tell me something about yourself?" Kate offered.

"I... I just want to make you happy right now." Kal replied. "I'll... do whatever you want?" She offered, feeling helpless to stop what she was saying and feeling.

Kate's smile was soft, but her eyes were wild and predatory all of the sudden... They sent a chill through her. "Well, that's a pick up line I've never heard before." Kate answered playfully. "Definitely sexy though." She whispered in Kal's ear.

Kal smiled softly to herself, pleased. "So, if it was a pick up line, did it work?" She whispered back. Kate wanted her; she could tell. She was pretty sure she wasn't actually Artemiz, but it still felt so good to her; so right... Wrong at the same time too, but she couldn't help that--couldn't help -herself-... and, somehow, she really didn't want to even try right now.

Kate pressed closer to her. "Very much so." She answered, biting her lip a little. "I... I could stand for someone to give me some happiness right now... I really could; you know?"

"Why? Is something wrong?" Kal asked, concerned.

"Just... I get so -frustrated- sometimes... There's something I want... that was taken from me long ago... I was lost a long time. I suppose... I'm just trying to find myself again. Find someone who loves me... A family..." Kate replied, her eyes conveying so much--a terrible openness and broken vulnerability that was savage in it's ferocity; yet, at heart... still beautiful. Kal could swear she felt some of Kate's feelings seeping into her somehow too even. "Have you ever felt anything like that, El?" Kate asked softly.

Kal swallowed a little, closing her eyes a second then meeting Kate's gaze again. "In my own way... Yes, I have..." She admitted softly.

Kate's eyes grew cold with fury and hate in that moment, and Kal felt her mind being torn into. Her eyes went wide and she felt herself heat up inside, like a rushing fire--a fever... Everything was so bright. But then the mind inside of hers took over, cooling her down, forcing her to stop; and then she was being thrown to the ground, violently enough to shatter the floor and make a loud noise along with a shockwave of air and force. Vaguely, Kal realized that people were screaming and running away around her. She felt hot again though; too hot... and Kate was gone...

Everything was so bright, and her mind felt numb--like it was moving too fast; in too much chaos. Too hot. She buried her head in her hands and curled up in a ball and started to cry softly to herself. It was all going so wrong... She should be able to stop this--save herself somehow--but she couldn't... She just didn't know how...

Soon though, someone was there, touching her shoulder softly, and telling her everything would be alright now. A hand stroking her hair, touching her face. And an energy, unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Warm, sure, bright, full of... kindness, and peace... Kal felt herself slowly start to regain some control; felt the chaos inside her start to right itself again. The energy from the woman who was saying soothing words to her still just washed over her in waves of sky blue peace. Vaguely, she even thought she recognized it.

Her tears gone, she opened her eyes and braced herself up on her elbow, looking into familiar blue eyes. Kal smiled. "Strange Visitor? Sharon?" She asked softly. "...How are you here?"

Sharon Vance smiled to her that charming smile of hers. "I was in town, following a lead on Jean... And, well, let's just say, you were kind of hard to ignore; you know? ...That is you in there, isn't it Kal-El?" She asked uncertainly.

"Yeah... Mostly, I think..." Kal replied kind of meekly. "Thank you..." She met Sharon's eyes again.

Sharon smiled that charming smile of hers again. "Hey, it just means we're even now, that's all."

Kal smiled softly. "I... guess so..." She admitted, getting up to sitting. Her head, her thoughts, still felt blurry and vague somehow, but she was feeling really so much better.

"You're... You're pretty messed up, you know?" Sharon spoke then. "Your energy patterns, they're all in tatters--who -did- this to you?" She asked.

"A... A goddess... named Artemiz... She's responsible for part of it. This last thing; a woman I danced with who looked just like Artemiz but wasn't; she was in my head... Just ripped through me; made me burn... She said her name was Kate... Durant... Kate Durant. But... that's not really her name; I know it's not... Decay... Why do I think her name is Decay?" Kal asked helplessly.

Sharon shook her head a little. "Whoever she was, you're not exaggerating... I'm holding you together now, but if I let you go, you might just fall apart again--or even explode..." She looked genuinely worried. "I want to try something; try to stabilize you... But I need you to trust me; to not fight me when I do it. It might hurt, or it might not; there's no way to know... But I'm guessing, whatever happens, it can't be worse than not trying at all... Can you do that, Kal? Can you trust me like that?" Sharon asked softly.

"...Yes. I can; I promise..." Kal responded, smiling a little to herself and feeling tired. "Honestly, the way I feel, I'm not sure I could even fight you if I wanted to..." She admitted. And it was true; she did feel a lot better because of what Sharon was doing to her--she felt safe and protected and peaceful. That aside though, she still felt weak inside, and passive... No, she'd have no trouble just doing what she was asked to and trusting. It would be all too easy right now, in fact.

So she lay her head in Sharon's lap and closed her eyes and she felt Sharon's energy intensify, flood into her; surround her, suffuse her... It didn't hurt at all; in fact, in a way, it was one of the nicest feelings she'd ever experienced. Before she knew it though, she felt herself just drifting away into sleep...

\--- D'KAY ---

Kate held her head as she ran into an alley more than a mile away. She was screaming inside, but stubbornly refusing to scream so the world could hear her. She collapsed against a wall and sank to the ground, changing back to her Martian self--D'kay D'ranzz.

She sat there; scared and feeling alone and foolish. "She wasn't lying; I thought she was lying..." She mumbled to herself. She'd liked El. Liked dancing with her. Liked holding her, and looking into her mind. It was such a fast, bright, powerful mind. In some ways, a lot like a Martian's, but... undeniably so different too.

She'd sought Clark Kent out--stalked him, studied him--when she'd found out that J'onn J'onzz... no, not J'onn, J'ann, she was female now, she reminded herself... Her people changed the style of their names when they changed genders. She would be D'kar if she changed to a male herself again. She had been male a few times in her life, but not for very often when she had. She'd sent Ron to Clark's apartment. Clark who wasn't Clark. Clark who was El now, Kal-El--Superman. Power Woman's now famous cousin; the new hero of old Gotham, Batman's, Bruce Wayne's friend--he was a woman now too. Was she a shape-shifter also? A potential mate? Whatever he/she was, J'ann was interested in him as a mate, which had made him competition--made him a threat to her; so she'd thought to eliminate the threat, one way or another.

...But if El really was a shape-shifter... Perhaps she was a potential mate as well though? The thought was appealing in some ways... True, El was obviously dangerous to her--she had so much fire inside her somehow; how could she not be? But her mind was pliable and vulnerable too, and that was definitely appealing to her. True, she would greatly prefer a willing fellow Martian for a mate--that would be ideal--but she was also frightened of J'ann J'onzz; she'd be a fool not to be. J'ann was a manhunter; which meant that, if she rejected her, found out what she'd been doing to the humans she'd attempted mating with so many times; how many of them she'd raped to death... Another of her kind, a manhunter especially, would likely find it repellant. J'ann could easily reject her as a mate over it--could even seek to imprison or slay her for it potentially--and J'ann was likely to be the stronger if it came to a battle between them.

She knew her own mind well enough at least to know that she'd long ago lost something inside of herself that made her kind, green Martians, like they usually were. Lost that thing that made her kind centered and peaceful inside; made them abhor someone like her. As she was now, she was almost as brutal as a white Martian, and probably not as sane... It made her despair to think of it, but she knew it was true... No matter how much she might wish is were not. No matter how much she might wish she could be what, who, she once was.

No... J'ann J'onzz was probably as beautiful and deadly as flame to her. She'd been desperate to think she might have much of a real chance with her. No... if Kal-El was a shape-shifter, a potential mate, then it was far safer to peruse her instead.

She smiled a little to herself, daydreaming about how they'd danced together; about how El had told her she'd just wanted to make her happy... Those words, the look in her eyes, were working their way on her even now. She -would- try to have her for a mate--the idea appealed to her more and more the more she thought of it; the more she thought of her...

\--- LASHINA ---

Mad Harriet lived in a luxurious home on the outskirts of Maitrea, the imperial city of Apokolips, by a fire pit; her grand balcony looking out over it and bathing her and those with her in intense heat and light. Lashina observed from inside the house as Harriet avidly watched three women, fire nymphs, fight with each other in flaming hot oil. She was licking her lips and almost salivating over the sight as five other women fawned over her.

Lashina smiled and considered the scene a little before she energy-shifted her clothes away and walked out on the balcony. Harriet saw her then and immediately only had eyes for her; ignoring the women fighting for her and those who fawned over her. "Lucky me." Harriet spoke lustily as she got up and came over to her and kissed her hard with a passion that was nearly desperate in it's hunger.

Besides Barda, who had fled as a traitor years ago, Harriet was the only one among her sisters that she would truly call a friend. Well, of a sort, anyway. Oh, she knew Harriet might kill her gleefully and without hesitation if she was directly ordered to, but as long as she wasn't, she'd never think to tell anyone that she'd been visited by her--it just wouldn't occur to her. She was a simple-minded sort of creature, who loved nothing more than to rut and fuck as much as possible--she lived in the moment, made almost universally self-serving choices, and made no apologies for it. She had that common weakness though--that, in her heart, she yearned for nothing more than a hotly burning romance. The trouble was, she had difficulty finding women who would be with her among her sister Furies, or any of the other Apokoliptian goddesses for that matter. She tended to come on too strong and she could be very clingy. Of course, Lashina had always liked that about her for some reason. Found it refreshingly honest.

"How long are you mine for this time?" Harriet asked silkily in her ear.

Lashina laughed. "As long as you can stay awake." She told her.

"Ooo, my kind of challenge!" Harriet answered giddily, none-to-gently scooping her up in her arms and taking her to her bed chamber; forgetting all about her harem slaves, devotees, and admirers out on the patio deck. For a Fury of Harriet's elite standing, those were more than easy to come by; even for a woman of such unusual tendencies as Harriet.

There were more women laying about in the bed chamber, two of them fucking quite intensely on the bed.

Lashina laughed again as Harriet threw her onto the bed and leaped on top of her, causing some of the women to scurry out of the way. Harriet bit her neck and penetrated her sex with one hand right away, pulling at her hair roughly with the other. Lashina cried out and then bit her back, wrestling her around onto her back and claiming her in a rough kiss, and bringing her hand down to penetrate Harriet in return. Breasts grinding hard together, hands clawing feverishly at one another and pumping hard into each other, they fought each other for dominance; both of them only giving in every once and a while for a few moments to make it interesting before going on the attack again. Energy surged and crashed from them in waves; almost certainly causing the women that were still in the room to flee (two goddesses making love this roughly was not something easily endured for those who lacked their sheer power and strength).

They climaxed over and over, until it all felt like one long orgasm, and what followed was hours and hours and hours of love making--at first all wild, hungry, lustful, violent passion; though it eventually became something else. It became more gentle and loving; and that was even more intense, but no less passionate.

Lashina intentionally came on stronger than she normally would have. Normally, she would have wanted to draw this out for days on end probably, but this time she was in a hurry. Artemiz and Kanto and who knew who else were surely on her trail. She half thought they might have caught on to her already, actually. She would sense either of them coming though, and have time to simply steal Harriet's mother box and be off. She much preferred to have the time to thoroughly please her lover though, and then simply ask for it. Once she was done with her, she was sure Harriet would be in a state to agree to just about any request at all. She supposed she was simply lucky that she hadn't been found out yet... In more ways than one, at the current moment, surely (Harriet was definitely a wondrous lover to have, in her opinion at least).

In the end, Harriet was grinning, looking up at the ceiling, energy and fire crackling around them. The room was a furnace of heat and energy, and Harriet looked utterly blissful. Lashina herself was feeling very nearly the same way, but her mind was also sharply focused on her goal.

"I don't think I can go on... but I'm not asleep. What a conundrum for you." Harriet spoke.

"Not really..." Lashina whispered seductively to her, running a hand over her body and soothing it with waves of energy.

"Mmmmm!" Harriet almost purred. "You're so good at everything, aren't you my lovely one?" She spoke in contentment.

"With you, it's easy. We sing together, don't we?" Lashina asked.

"Mmmm.... oh, we do, don't we?" Harriet answered, moving over to kiss her; long and luxuriantly.

"I need a favor." Lashina whispered at last, once the kiss was parted.

Harriet looked almost a little sad at that. "I wish you would have married me instead, Lasha..."

"Come with me then. It wouldn't be the worst thing to have two wives?" Lashina asked on the spur of the moment.

"With you? Where?" Harriet asked, sounding dreamy and confused.

"Earth. That's what I... wanted to ask you. I need a mother box." Lashina told her.

"Earth? Why go there? Is it a mission from our mistress?" Harriet asked.

Lashina sighed. She shouldn't really be surprised Harriet was confused; not remembering that she was a traitor and a fugitive now. "I'm a fugitive now; you should know that very well... Come with me though? We can be fugitives together, away from all of this darkness and fire?"

Lashina laughed. "You've gone insane, I love it!" She exclaimed gleefully.

"So what's your answer?" Lashina asked, her voice hardening. She didn't appreciate being laughed at in that way.

"...Do whatever you want, I don't care. Just leave." Harriet told her, sounding hurt.

Lashina didn't really understand how she'd caused Harriet pain, but she got up none the less, and went to retrieve the mother box; energy-shifting into her armor again. "It's too bad. We could have been good together." She spoke softly.

"Next time you want to fuck me, just don't play games with my heart. I hate you for it." Harriet told her, staring at her coldly.

That surprised her, and she didn't understand, but she did take offense at having her word and her honor questioned. So she didn't bother to try to clear up whatever misunderstanding existed between them. It was probably just as well anyway...

She mentally told the mother box to open a boom tube and she left for Earth.

\--- ARTEMIZ ---

Artemiz heard the BOOM and saw through the walls, watching her wife leave. She felt so much rage she could hardly restrain herself from going down there and ripping Mad Harriet apart with her bear claws and teeth. "How could she -be- such a complete -idiot-?!" She fumed to herself, at once contemptuous and grateful beyond words that it was so.

She'd found them in bed together, fucking wildly, but she hadn't dared confront them, lest her and Lasha's shame become known. She had always tolerated Lashina's dalliances with Harriet, though she had little stomach for bedding the woman herself... Honestly, probably because Harriet reminded her of the parts of herself she least liked to dwell upon. Still, she grudgingly settled on taking her blessings where she could find them. If Harriet only thought Lasha had been playing a game with her, telling her lies for her own amusement, then they were safe from the specter of disgrace... for now at least.

Her own mother box couldn't track Lasha's of course; not with Lasha having asked hers to mask her trail as she had. But, of course, it was obvious enough where, or more actuary to whom, Lasha would go. Fury, anger, and raw malice burned so bright in her at the thought, that she even scared herself a little with what these feelings might drive her to do. Never--never, in all her thousands of years of life, had she ever felt anything like this... This complete, wrathful, unreasoning, absolute hatred.

She called up a BOOM tube and went to go through, her hounds and her fiercest devotes and slaves following her though. As she entered the space warp though, she thought that, no, what she'd just thought wasn't true. Not at all. There was one thing, just one thing she'd felt that was stronger that what she felt now. And that... That was love...

A love she would have back--even need she burn a world and all upon it to ashes to have her way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	10. Where You Are

PART 10: WHERE YOU ARE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- CAT ---

She was sitting by the window and looking out at the city. She'd just got back from doing an interview, and Lori was stuck at a conference at the university and wasn't quite home yet. Now that they were engaged, Lori had kind of semi-moved in with her. It seemed like they really were going to go ahead with that whole buying a bigger place and rooming with J'onn and, well, whoever she ended up with--Clark or Erica.

The funny thing was, she was actually kind of rooting for it to be Clark somehow. Much as she knew Lori didn't really think much of the idea of it because Clark was a guy. She liked Clark; he was always so sweet and charming... and... somehow, she just had the feeling that he and J'onn would make a good couple. They just seemed to click together so well. And she felt she probably knew that better than anyone else; maybe even J'onn herself in this instance... Not that she thought J'onn and Erica were a -bad- match, just... not quite as good of one probably.

That wasn't what was troubling her though. What was troubling her was that J'onn had stopped taking her calls, or her phone was off, and she hadn't been home since yesterday. And when she'd come home yesterday... She'd never seen J'onn like that before; so closed off. She'd never once been closed off with her before--they were best friends after all--and yesterday J'onn hadn't been able to get out of the apartment fast enough... It had hurt, to be brushed aside like that by her. Hurt more than she'd care to admit, actually. But rather than being angry at J'onn, she was just worried--intensely.

She looked down at her cell phone and considered calling again, for all the good it would probably do.

Her hand clenched around the phone and she felt so frustrated and... scared, really. She got up and went to put her coat on and get her shoes. On the way out the door, she called Lori.

Lori picked up after one ring. "Hi love." Lori greeted her.

"Hi back... Um, listen, love of my life, I... I'm worried about her; about, um, Lois. She won't answer her phone, and how she was to us yesterday is just driving me crazy. I'm going to go out looking for her, okay?" She asked as she pressed the button for the elevator.

"I; of course... Maybe we can meet up later and I can help you look?" Lori asked.

Cat smiled. "I'd love that..." She replied back softly as the elevator opened and a blond woman with striking sky blue eyes met her gaze. "Um, Lori? I think I'm going to have to call you back. Kara-Ze's in my elevator..." She told her, hanging up the phone. She'd interviews Kara a couple of times, so of course she'd recognized her right away. They'd never socialized though, because Kara wasn't really known to socialize much. She was probably busy being the city's most famous citizen. All that adoration--probably got to be a bit much at times Cat would imagine, right?

"Hi Cat." Kara greeted with a little of a smile as she walked out of the elevator and they hugged briefly.

"Hi yourself." Cat replied. "To what do I owe this unexpected visit?" She asked, somehow guessing she might already know the answer to that.

"I was actually hoping to catch up to your roommate. But, of course she's not here, is she? You were going to go out looking for her? I have to admit, I eavesdropped on my way up..." Kara answered.

"I'd have thought you would have been able to tell she wasn't here from across town or something." Cat replied with a little of a smile.

"Oh, I could. But I thought I'd come talk to you anyway... Once we have, I'll help you look for her if you want?" She asked.

Cat had to smile a little at that. "Well, I guess things -would- go a little faster that way, wouldn't they?" She sighed. After all, it wasn't as if she could in any way shape or form prevent Kara--Power Woman--from looking for J'onn if that's what she wanted to do, so she considered it the better option to at least be there when it happened. "Okay, so, um, would you like to come in? I could get you something to drink?" She offered, going back to her front door and opening it for them.

"Do you have any carbonated mineral water? The kind flavored with fruit or herbs?" Kara asked hopefully.

"We do, in fact." Cat answered, going over to the refrigerator and bringing them both bottles of what Kara had asked for. "Mandarin orange or great fruit?"

"Oh, um, the Mandarin orange?" She offered, having gone to stand looking out the windows over the patio at the city beyond and the evening sky that was just starting to look like sunset might be starting soon. "Unless you'd like that one? Either one's fine." Kara corrected. "I like both kinds."

Cat smiled and gave Kara the orange one she liked. "I like both kinds too." She replied, coming over to stand with her by the window.

Kara sighed. "So... Lois Lane is secretly a very powerful alien, with some very powerful and dangerous enemies, and she's been dating my cousin, as I understand it?"

Cat had to smile a little ruefully at that. "All true, I'm afraid. I think they make a really nice couple, as a matter of fact."

Kara looked at her curiously. "Well, she's certainly been very good at keeping it a secret up until now. She's interviewed me at least ten times by now, and I had no idea. How long have you known about her?"

Cat shook her head. "It's not like that, actually..." She admitted softly.

"What's it like then?" Kara asked solicitously.

Cat met her eyes. "She should probably be the one to tell you most of it. But, you remember when Lois went missing a while ago for all of that time? I assume you'd have heard about that?"

"I did. Helena and I tried to find her, as a matter of fact. There wasn't anything to go on though... But then she just showed up again. She'd been in Russia, as I recall. Doing some very impressive work taking down a human trafficking ring." Kara answered.

Cat shook her head again. "That wasn't her--the Lois that came back."

Kara looked surprised at that. "...Who's the woman Kal's been dating then?"

"Her name is J'onn. She was a very good friend of Lois's, and she'd never given up on trying to find her. But, you know, like you said, whoever took her, they didn't leave a trace. Not even one someone like her could find. And believe me when I say, that's really saying something. So she decided to pose as Lois, hoping to draw her abductor's out." Cat told her.

Kara was looking at her with undisguised interest then. "Hmm... Well, that about figures then." Was all she gave in answer.

Cat laughed just a little at that. "Well, I guess a story like that would seem run of the mill if I'd had your life."

Kara smiled a very genuine smile at that. "That's definitely the truth." Her face became more serious then. "Do you trust her? J'onn?" She asked then.

"Completely. She's my best friend. And you can believe me, because I probably know her better than anyone else alive." Cat told her.

Kara regarded her thoughtfully. "Somehow, I think there's definitely a story there."

"There is. But... It's kind of private." Cat replied.

"I thought it would be." Kara replied. "Anyway, it seems as though I won't have to help you search for your missing friend after all. She's on her way up in the elevator right now, as a matter of fact."

\--- J'ANN ---

Pressing the button to call the elevator, J'ann sensed someone watching her. It look less than a second for her mind to pinpoint the source and her eyes to meet Kara-Ze's through all the concrete, metal, and other such material separating them. She smiled a little ruefully and waved at her, feeling apprehensive. "I'll be up in a minute. I guess I do owe you a talk, don't I?" She spoke as the elevator dinged and began to open, knowing Kara would be able to hear her perfectly. There wasn't anyone waiting for the elevator with her to hear her and think she was a crazy person or something for seemingly talking to herself. A woman was in the elevator when it opened though--Janie Jenkins from the second floor; J'ann traded the elevator with her and then pressed the key for her floor.

"Anyway, it seems as though I won't have to help you search for your missing friend after all. She's on her way up in the elevator right now, as a matter of fact." She heard Kara say to Cat as the elevator doors started to close.

She spent the short time it took for the elevator to travel between floors trying to think of just what to say. She'd come home intent on apologizing profusely to Cat for being so rude to her before in her rush to leave... and to tell her that she was thinking of marrying Erica; or, rather, hoping to. And, honestly, she'd also simply felt like she needed her best friend right now. Clark's--Kal-El's--famous cousin wasn't what she'd bargained for. Especially because she was actively trying -not- to think of Clark at the moment. Or Lashina, or Artemiz, or any of it really.

The elevator arrived and she squared her shoulders and mentally braced herself before walking out to the hallway and down to her and Cat's place. Despite her misgivings, the part of her that had become so much like Lois Lane actually was kind of curious what Kara-Ze would have to say--call it a reporter's innate default mentality.

Cat opened the door for her and their eyes met. J'ann smiled a little helplessly and asked for forgiveness with her eyes, mentally sending her the Martian words for 'I'm so sorry my dearest friend, please forgive me?'.

Cat smiled and they hugged. "I'm glad you're back." Cat told her softly.

"I'm glad I'm back too." She replied.

Cat let her go and backed up to allow her inside. J'ann caught Kara's eyes and Kara was smiling a little to her. "Hi Lois. Or, J'onn I understand?"

"Either one's fine." J'ann answered softly, not seeing the point in correcting her guest on the gender affectation of her name. She walked further into the room; she and Cat going over to stand closer to Kara. "I suppose you've got some questions... or concerns, I'd imagine... How is he... she by the way?" She asked with a soft vulnerability.

Kara watched her curiously for a second, seeming to make a preliminary decision of some sort. "It's hard to tell, honestly..."

"I'd be surprised if it were otherwise." J'ann replied softly. "It's certainly not for me." She smiled a little. "Apokoliptians in general seem to have that effect, I'm finding..." She rubbed the side of her head tiredly. "I need a glass of water or something..." She told, turning to go to the kitchen and pour herself one.

"Do you have a lot of experience with them?" Kara asked, following her over, sitting on a stool at the kitchen bar across a counter from her. Cat passed Kara by and came around the counter to stand by her side.

J'ann took a drink of the water and sat it down on the counter, leaning against one of the cabinets that was at a right angle to Kara and meeting her eyes. "Munch more than I'd like, I'd say. But no; I've only encountered them one time before... what happened the other day. Once after as well, if you want the truth. So, three times, in total."

"Once after?" Kara asked, her curiosity, and concern, piqued.

"Um, excuse me, but would either of you mind telling what exactly's going on? When did Lashina come back? Is that what was on the news? Was that you?" Cat asked her.

J'ann closed her eyes and sighed, pushing off from the counter and stepping closer to her friend, gently cupping her cheek. "May I?" She asked softly.

"Of course." Cat agreed easily.

J'ann closed her eyes and sent her the mental images. Precise to start out with--full of sights and sounds and voices from her recent past: Her and Jimmy down by the docks. When the SCU made their move. When Intergang had counterattacked. When... When Jimmy died. When Kal-El showed up and she'd realized immediately he was Clark. When Clark had taken her away in his arms and they'd kissed. How startlingly happy she'd been...

Then, more distant impressions--very carefully filtered and chosen--just bare visuals with some speech and a bare scattering of her own impressions: The way the air vibrated and shook as the BOOM tube opened. Lashina and... Artemiz... The fight. The destruction. The cost. What had happened to Clark. How Artemiz had transformed and raped him. What she'd had to do to Lashina to stop the insanity Lashina and Artemiz had brought. Kara and her wife arriving. Taking the collar off of Clark... Leaving to rescue survivors--both because she was the most equipped for it and because she wanted to be anywhere else but there...

Then later, how she'd felt so raw and scarred that she couldn't even bring herself to share any of it with her best friend. How she'd gone to Erica's and slept in her empty bed, then woken to find Erica, Margot, and Aliki returned. How they'd made love. How much it had let her heal. Then... Kanto... and how she'd tore into him, and ripped him apart and sent him away; brought Aliki Marceau back from the dead with scraps of him. And finally how she and Erica had talked, and how J'ann wanted to be with her now.

She'd been careful to spare Cat as much of the pain that she'd suffered as she could, and she'd made damn sure not to give Cat even one tiny bit of what she'd gotten from inside of Artemiz's -or- Lashina's minds. Despite that though, tears were falling from Cat's eyes. J'ann wordlessly wiped them away with her fingers. "I'm sorry." She told her softly.

"Don't be." Cat smiled to her through her tears. "I'm glad you told me... I'm just... I'm really sorry you had to go through something like that, that's all..." Cat moved in and gave her a hug, which J'ann gratefully accepted.

When the hug broke, and J'ann's eyes met Kara's, Kara's eyes were full of enquiry, intelligence, and a certain sympathy. "Thought sharing, I take it?" She asked.

"Mm." J'ann nodded and hugged herself with her arms.

"It was an assassin; his name was Kanto--Aretmiz's brother..." Cat provided. "J'onn won, but... Artemiz is going to come for her--for Kal-El, for me, for everyone J'onn loves... You can't know how dangerous she is..." She finished.

"...Maybe you'd better show me then?" Kara offered.

J'ann met her eyes in surprise. "You'd... You'd trust me like that?" She asked, sounding more vulnerable than she'd have liked to have. Sharing herself with Cat like that had been something of a relief, yes, but it...It hadn't been at all easy for her either. She didn't know if she even -wanted- to show Kara-Ze any of these things; though she couldn't think of a good reason to refuse her...

"Logically, it's not much of a risk." Kara replied. "If you can overpower my mind, then you could do it whether I gave you my permission or not, I'd imagine. Though I've dealt with telepaths... a great deal before, and I do have certain... resources... On the off chance you were thinking of trying something untoward, I'd really recommend you didn't." She told her, actually with a little ice in her voice.

J'ann had to guess that some of those past experiences with telepaths were very bad ones, but she knew enough not to speak her guess aloud. "I swear to you on my life, I would never violate anyone like that... Not unless lives were at stake and there was no better way..." Was what she chose to tell Kara instead.

Kara smiled a little at that. "See? Then there's nothing to worry about... Besides... I somehow have a feeling I can trust you... Your eyes give you away."

J'ann had to smile just a little at that. She walked around the counter and stood before Kara, who stood up to meet her. Their eyes met then. "Likewise." J'ann replied, bringing her hand up to cup Kara's face. "Brace yourself; this won't be fun... for either of us..." She warned.

Kara's mind was so bright and so very fast that it took J'ann more than a few moments to acclimate herself to the experience to where she could do what she was doing safely and effectively. Still, once she'd adjusted, she felt herself unable to stop from smiling. Kara's mind was so completely beautiful... A lot like Clark's in many ways, she supposed (though she'd only ever brushed up against his a few times; nothing like this). She let go what would be called a mental sigh, and sent Kara the relevant memories... Her first meeting with Lashina where she and Joan Dale fought her together. Then the ship yard and the Intergang bust. Then Clark showing up. Him sweeping her off her feet, and their kiss. Lashina and Artemiz arriving. The battle. Her own feelings afterward. She skipped the more intimate parts of her night with Erica, Aliki, and Margot of course, but, of necessity, showed her all of her encounter with Kanto, and it's results. For good measure, she also showed Kara some of her experiences with Clark--that she'd been honest with him about seeing Erica as well, and she showed her enough of her feelings now and impressions of her feelings from the past so that Kara would understand where she was at right now, emotionally. She took nothing of Kara's feelings or thoughts in return, of course, beyond the broad impressions she couldn't help but get just from being inside her mind. It was a gesture of trust on her part--showing so much of herself without expecting any reciprocation--and she hoped it would be seen that way.

She closed her eyes and let her hand drop from Kara's face. When her eyes opened, they met Kara's curious and interested gaze. Kara smiled in a friendly way to her then and shook her head. "You really have been though a lot, haven't you?" She spoke. "...You held a lot back, but I couldn't help but tell..." She shook her head. "It's even worse that I thought though--what happened to Kal... Thank you for saving him... I know what it cost you. In part, at least..." She admitted softly, getting up from the stool she'd been sitting on. "I need to go find her... I'd ask you to come with me...?"

"That wouldn't be a good idea." J'ann replied. "I still have... What's inside me now could hurt her, and I'm not sure... If there's even a chance... She shouldn't be exposed to it... At least not until she's had more time to heal..."

"If she wants to see you?" Kara asked.

"If she wants to. But only if she wants to." J'ann replied firmly.

"...I understand." Kara agreed, bringing a hand up to cup J'ann's cheek as J'ann had hers had moments before. She dropped her hand. "I think I'll say goodnight to you both then."

They said their goodnights then, but on her way out the door, Kara paused and turned back to meet J'ann's eyes. "For what it's worth, I think you'd make a good couple..." She smiled a little, then left.

J'ann stared after her a moment, then smiled a little fondly and shook her head. She went over and leaned a hand on the counter. "I think I'm going to have a headache soon..." She admitted tiredly.

Cat came over and put her hands on her shoulders from behind. "Come on, come sit with me on the couch for a while?" She offered.

J'ann smiled. "Yeah, okay... Thanks." She told, turning around and kissing Cat on her forehead fondly for being such a good friend.

"Anytime." Cat replied, kissing her on the cheek and leading her over to the couch.

Before they could sit down though, a key turned in the lock and Lori came in. Cat went over to greet her fiance with a hug and a kiss and J'ann followed along and offered a hug as well. "What'd I miss?" Lori asked.

J'ann sighed. "I need to go lay down." She complained.

They ended up on the couch, J'ann laying down with her head in Lori's lap, Cat snuggled up to Lori's side, as Lori gave J'ann a head massage and used her telepathy to give J'ann's weary mind something of a healing massage as well... She sent soft waves of positive emotion and thought gathered from both her and Cat--It helped more than J'ann had words to express.

Cat told Lori all about Kara-Ze's visit, J'ann adding a word or two here or there. Then they watched the afternoon news on PBS for a while before J'ann got up and said she was going to go back to Erica's for the night.

She went and showered and got a change of clothes on. When she came out, Cat was there making tea; Lori back in her room, luxuriating in bed after a session of love-making, J'ann was sure. One that was probably going to continue once she was gone and they'd drank their tea. The thought did make her smile. Even if a part of her probably always would be a little jealous, she was beyond happy that Cat had found someone like Lori to be with; someone who could make her so happy.

"Will I see you at work tomorrow?" Cat asked.

J'ann smiled to her. "You know me. I'm suffering newsroom withdrawal even as we speak. And you -know- I've got a doozy of a story to write... I just have to find a way to spin it so I don't say too much..."

Cat smiled softly. "I was half afraid you'd stop; you know--now that's your cover's blown."

J'ann shook her head a little. "I like my life now, at least the part where I'm Lois... Not so much recent events, but, you know... I think I might have actually started to do what I set out to do anyway. I don't have any definite proof yet, but I think Lashina and Artemiz's people are the ones who took Lois. The next move has to be theirs though, unfortunately... But you can bet, I'll be as ready for it as I can be."

Just as she said it, there was a knock on the door and J'ann smiled. "Speaking of." She went over and opened the door, greeting her friend Joan Dale with a warm hug. "Thanks for this." She told her guest softly.

"Of course." Joan replied. "I more than owe you after all."

J'ann smiled a little. "I just hope you don't get the opportunity to pay me back." She answered softly.

"Heh-hem?" Cat interrupted curiously. "And who's this?"

"Cat Grant, this is Joan Dale. Joan, by best friend Cat." J'ann introduced.

"Joan... Miss America?" Cat answered.

"That's me. Until this is over, consider me your bodyguard, darling." Joan informed her with a smile.

Cat looked over to J'ann. "In case Artemiz tries to make good on her threat, I guess." She ventured softly.

J'ann nodded. "Besides me, she's the only one I know who can really fight one of them. Even Clark couldn't; not really. But I know she can; I've seen her. And if Artemiz does attack you, you have to know I'll be watching, and I'll be here in seconds. You and Lori will be safe, I swear."

"What about Erica? What about Clark?" Cat asked softly.

"Erica has a place... A sort of sanctuary. Somewhere I doubt even Artemiz will be able to find; at least, not at all easily. Margot and Aliki are already there. Erica's making sure her affairs can run themselves while she's gone, and I've been keeping an eye on her remotely as well. After tonight, Erica will leave too. As for Clark, her cousin's going to be looking out for her, and I'll be watching her too. And... once Artemiz does make her move, I'm going to end this between us. One way or another..." She told softly. "She's not giving me any other choice."

Cat met her eyes with sympathy. "Just make sure you win..."

J'ann smiled a little hesitantly at that. "I intend to."

"And I intend to make sure of it." Joan added. "Believe me."

After that, the three of them talked a little while. Lori came out, curious about what was going on, and Cat and Lori got to know Joan a little. As was typical for Cat, she made friends effortlessly, and it was evident that Joan was starting to like her friends in return too; which made J'ann happy--if for no other reason than she knew that Joan would try just that much harder to protect them if she liked them. It wasn't a particularly nice thought, perhaps, but she was scared for Cat--really scared. If there was one thing in the world that would break her spirit the most, it would be losing Cat; so she was bound and determined beyond anything else for that not to happen.

She was even tempted to stay and not go to Erica tonight, but she knew Joan was a match for even Artemiz, and she knew that she could be back here in under two seconds if she had to be, and she knew also that Artemiz probably wouldn't strike again so soon--She was probably still concerned with Lashina, and very possibly didn't yet know of Kanto's fate. Though, of course, she wasn't counting on that--hence Joan being here.

Before long, she was putting on her coat to leave, having said her goodnights. Lori and Joan were still talking over by the kitchen bar, but Cat broke away to come over to her.

"Guess I'll see you at work tomorrow?" Cat offered.

"Guess you will." J'ann answered, caressing Cat's cheek fondly.

Cat closed her eyes and touched J'ann's hand on her face before J'ann dropped it away. She sighed. "Erica... You know you don't really want to marry her, don't you?" Cat asked her softly.

J'ann looked into her eyes for a long moment, then looked away. She hadn't known that, or hadn't realized it might be true, not until Cat spoke it out loud for her. "Maybe." She finally admitted. "But if she asks, I still will."

Cat closed her eyes a moment then opened them and their eyes met again. "Just... Stay safe, alright?" She asked.

"Do my best." J'ann smiled in a way that was 100% Lois Lane.

Cat shook her head a little. "When you smile at me like that, you know it still makes me want to kiss you... just a little bit." She told her softly.

"Only a little bit? Huh, I must be slipping." She joked. "See you later... and you stay safe too. Stay close to Joan. You promise?"

"Promise." Cat answered.

J'ann smiled at that, but only half-heartedly, and left.

\--- KAL ---

When he woke up the next day, Kal felt so much better... Like she was bathed in sunlight and everything would be alright somehow. She hadn't felt like that since... Since that kiss... She opened her eyes and realized she wasn't alone in bed. She glanced over and saw Sharon Vance's sleeping face on her shoulder, and then comprehension came. She wasn't a she anymore, he was his old self again. He remembered what had happened. The dance club. Kate Durant. And the explosion--the fire in her that Sharon had saved her from.

He sat up on his side and touched Sharon's face in a fond caress. "But why am I in bed with you?" He asked softly aloud. He and Sharon were old friends. They'd met on his world travels in Boston. Sharon's story was as unusual as his own. She'd grown up an ordinary girl with a fairly ordinary life, or so she'd thought, until she'd lost her memory and woken up in New York's central park--a being of blue and white energy. The press had dubbed her Strange Visitor. She'd stopped a mystical crisis in the city then. An ancient war of magic that had spilled over into our world. She'd met a woman there--Jean Loring from Ivy Town--and they'd fallen in love. They'd ended up moving back to Ivy Town together.

Sharon eventually got her memories back and found out that she never had been an ordinary girl, or an ordinary woman--She'd been the... well something between an avatar, a reflection, or a daughter of a cosmic goddess named Kismet, as far as he'd been able to understand it. Sharon herself didn't really profess to understanding it all either, in fact. She learned from Kismet that she'd been born to stop some threat or some great catastrophe from happening though; that it would happen years from now, and that she had to become ready for it.

That being said, perhaps it shouldn't have come as a surprise when 'happily ever after' hadn't been in the cards for her and Jean. An ancient, malevolent entity named Eclipso had taken root in Jean when Sharon had tried to stop it from spreading it's influence over the world. Sharon had had to fight her possessed lover. She'd won, but Eclipso had fled, still in Jean's body. Sharon had been searching for her since. And she'd caught up to her in Boston, where Eclipso had gotten the better of her by setting a trap. Clark had been there to help her though; to save her when she'd needed it. Jean had still slipped through Sharon's fingers then though. But Sharon was still bound and determined to get her fiance back. From what she'd said yesterday, when she'd paid Clark back for saving her before, she was still looking for Jean, even now.

Sharon was sound asleep though, so he figured he'd have to wait a while more to get his answerers. He certainly didn't want to wake her up--that seemed like a bad way to repay a woman for saving your life. So he lay back down and sighed.

One thing was for sure: He'd definitely missed his date with Bruce.

He felt kind of miserable about that. And Lois... He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Now that he was back to his old self, he felt he could really think about her again. Really think about what had happened to him... What had happened to them both. He still felt a lot more shaky inside than he'd like of course, but he figured it was going to probably take him a long time to really work though all of that. What was he going to do now, though? He was still in love with Lois, that he was sure of... He'd never stopped, really; not even through all that had happened to him... It had just been... He just hadn't been able to face it; hadn't been able to find his way free of what had been done to him... Until now...

He sighed and ran a hand though his hair--which was short again. Strange... He kind of missed being a woman, in a way... But, in larger part, he was just glad to be back to being a man again. Being Clark again, not... "Ella Lang... huh." He shook his head a little at that. He hadn't taken the last name Lang when the Langs had adopted him after Jonathan and Martha Kent had died, but he did consider them family of course... And Lana... He made up his mind then, that he'd have to go back for a visit sometime soon--He'd been away much too long...

Beside him, Sharon stirred towards waking. "Hey you..." He greeted, propping himself up on his side on an elbow and looking down into her face.

She blinked her eyes open. "Oh, hey Kal." She smiled sleepily. "Guess you're back to being all masculine again. That's good... I suppose?"

"Um, yeah... Definitely good. Feeling a lot more myself at least... Look, um, I'm not quite sure the right way to ask this. But um, why are we naked in bed together exactly?" He asked a little helplessly.

She smiled a little playfully at that. "What, you don't remember our night together?" She teased.

"I... We didn't... I'd remember..." He was a little scared, actually. That couldn't have really happened, could it?

She laughed. "Relax, Kal. Nothing happened." She kissed him on the cheek fondly and ruffled his hair. "I just needed to keep you close, that's all. You know, to keep healing you and all?" She sat up and hugged him. "I'm so relieved it worked by the way..." She offered.

He hugged her back. "Thank you..." He answered.

"Hey, anytime." She smiled, ruffling his hair again and moving to get up out of bed. She stretched her hands up over her head, energy rippling over her naked body. Kal had to admit, she was amazingly beautiful. "Not that I wouldn't mind a roll in bed with you, if you'd be up for it." She smiled at him over her shoulder, turning and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "It's... kind of been a while, you know?"

"You're not... I thought you were only attracted to women?" Kal asked.

"Hm? Oh, no. Gender doesn't matter that much to me. I guess I can't blame you for thinking that though. I've just... Well, when I woke up in New York and I met Jean, I've just... I guess I only had eyes for her back then. And it's only been her for me since then. But before that, I dated both men and women. And while I've been searching for her, I have to admit... I've indulged in a night or friendly love-making with whoever was available and appealing from time to time... It's just too lonely not to, you know? We're beings meant for finding connection, for experiencing love, and it weakens us if we deny that..." She offered softly. "It doesn't mean I've given up on getting her back."

"Of course it doesn't." Kal comforted her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

Sharon turned around and their eyes met. "So, how are you feeling?" She asked.

"Much better." He answered. "Almost... Almost back to normal, I think." He told more softly. "At least as far as my body goes. My head? My heart? I think they're going to take a while longer..."

Sharon moved over and kissed him with just honest wanting. It was such a sweet and uncomplicated gesture, Kal could hardly help but respond. "Maybe we can help each other then?" She offered softly.

The breath caught in his throat a moment, but then he ran a hand though her hair and smiled to her softly. "Why not?" He replied just as softly, kissing her back and letting himself be laid back on the bed.

Her weight and warmth on him was so welcome. The energy sparking from her skin felt like heaven. They just made out for a while, and Kal felt his sex become long and erect; he'd almost forgotten how good that could feel.

Her hand came down to stroke it, and he gasped just a little as they continued to kiss. He brought his hands down between them to her sex and stroked it's wet folds, causing her to shiver with anticipation, before he penetrated her with his fingers.

She brought her hand up and stopped kissing him long enough to wet it with her saliva and then brought it back down to his sex and started to really pleasure him in earnest. He arched his back as she continued to ride his hand and pump his sex. Her lips were on his neck, just below his ear, and when she nipped his ear a little, he cried out softly and reached his climax just as he heard her gasp and felt the answering flood of wetness over his hand.

She was kissing him then and he rolled them over onto their sides. "I so needed this." She smiled to him, kissing him again.

Privately, Kal thought he probably did too. At least, he was sure feeling a whole lot better--no more of those disturbing thoughts occupying his mind. No, all of his senses and attention where solidly in the here and now with the woman sharing her bed with him whom he was making love with.

She pushed him back onto his back and broke off their kiss, smiling serenely down to him as their eyes met. "I'm going down on you now." She told him, licking her lips. He felt a thrill go though him, and he arched his back and felt his sex strain as Sharon went down him and brought her lips to the head of his sex, beginning to lube his length, up and down.

He shuddered a little and closed his eyes a moment, before he opened them and realized her invitation. Her sex was braced invitingly over him, and he rushed up and took it to his mouth, rolling them over onto their sides. Neither of them had any particular need to breathe, and both had no shortage of stamina, so, of course, what followed were hours on end of love making that Kal was sure he wasn't ever going to forget.

Those long hours later, Kal had Sharon in his lap; her back to him, his butt raised up off the bed as he thrust up into her ass with his sex, stroking her sex with one hand and softly kneading one of her breasts with the other while he kissed her neck. Her back was arched and she was pleasing her other breast with one hand, her other over his hand on her sex. Energy was crackling off of both of them, mixing and curing between them. He felt like he was glowing all over as brightly as he ever had, and he knew he probably was.

She cried out her climax first, and that was all it took for him to go over after her, ejaculating into her and feeling so wonderful for it. He collapsed them onto the bed on their sides and spooned with her for a while, kissing her neck and holding her to him. She hummed happily and turned around in his arms and they began to kiss again.

They just made out like that for a while, neither in any hurry to stop, until finally Sharon sighed. "We're going to have to stop this at some point, you know." She told him with regret.

"I know." He replied. "We're... both in love with other people, after all." He offered the obvious observation.

She sighed again. "Don't remind me." She got up to sitting and ran a hand though her hair to order it.

He got up to and caressed her hair some as well. She smiled to him and ran a hand though her hair. "It's kind of a shame, you know. I wouldn't have minded doing this with the female you too. It'd be amazing if you could switch back and forth when you wanted. Your girlfriend or boyfriend, whoever that is, might like a choice like that too. In any case... He, or she, is very lucky." She smiled fondly, kissing the palm of his hand.

Kal smiled softly at that. "Her name is Lois..." He sighed. "And, as it turns out, neither of us knew the other nearly as well as we thought we did. We've just dated a few times really, and done this a few times." He smiled softly. "She's seeing someone else too though, so I don't even know if she'll choose me in the end... I want her to though... even with everything we've been though lately." He didn't mention Bruce, because, well, he didn't really know what he was going to do about that--they'd gone out on... Well, it was kind of a date, or almost one. And he did have feelings for him; he couldn't deny that in the least. But, well, he was also sure... That he wouldn't chose Bruce over Lois. So he'd spoken his truth, and simply hoped that when it came down to that same choice for Lois--him or Erica--that Lois would chose him too.

"...What exactly have you been through, Kal?" She asked gently. "I mean, I know what you told me before. That a goddess named Artemis turned you into a woman, and then a woman named Kate or Decay made you... explode... but, um, how about some specifics?" She asked.

"Her name's pronounced Artemiz actually; if she -was- here on Earth when the Greeks were worshiping their pantheon, I somehow doubt she would have been portrayed so benevolently." Kal responded a little ruefully, but also with a twinge of fondness in his voice that was disquieting. He tried not to think about it. "And well, specifically... Lois had, um, just discovered who I really was. We were on a roof... There was a kiss, and then... boom. Some sort of portal--louder than fireworks--just opens up, and these two women with these two metal dogs come out. There's a fight. Lois turned out to be an alien too, with abilities not that different than my own. I... didn't really have much time to marvel at the discovery though. Those women--Artemiz and Lashina--I've never fought anyone like them before. Even Eclipso doesn't compare... It was... The scale of them... I didn't stand a chance, not really. Not at all, I think. Somehow though, Lois did. She beat them back... I still can't even imagine how... It all seems... so impossible."

Worry was evident on Sharon's face. "And they're part of an entire race?" She asked. "An entire race of people with power like that?"

"Apparently..." Kal replied.

"Maybe... Maybe they're who I'm here to stop then?" Sharon asked.

"If they are, I feel sorry for you. Really I do." Kal told her in all honestly.

"...What did she do to you? ...I mean, I know what she -did-, but... What did she do to you?" She asked.

"I'm not... I don't even know if you could really call it rape. Or, it was... I know it was... It's just... It seems like such a small word..." She met Sharon's eyes. "She wasn't just in my head... It was like... all of me... Like she was in every cell of my body... every spark, every whisper of life... And she made me hers; made me want to be hers. She took me... She fucked me, and Rao help me, I wanted it as much... maybe more... than I've ever wanted anything... Or... that's how it felt anyway... I can't even tell how much was true, or... Or what I should feel--what I -am- feeling about it; about... her... I just, I don't know..." He finished softly. "I wish... I wish I could just forget... I wish it hadn't... I wish it never happened. That's what I wish..."

"I don't suppose you want me to tell you that forgetting isn't the answer? Or that wishing to change the past isn't either?" She offered.

He smiled a little at that. "I don't know; maybe I need to hear it?"

She smiled a little bit back. "Then hear this: Don't give up. Okay, Kal? If there's one thing that I know helps when... When something--when someone's been taken from you. When there's something that happened that you... You can't even bring yourself to think about; because it hurts too much sometimes. Then just... Keep going anyway. You'd... You'd be surprised how much that helps." She explained. "Reality won't change for you, but, I have to believe, you can change reality. If you want it badly enough."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	11. Superglue For The Broken People

PART 11: SUPERGLUE FOR THE BROKEN PEOPLE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- KAL (continued) ---

"My cousin's waiting for me on the rooftop of the next building." Kal told her finally. He and Sharon had talked a while longer; but a few minutes ago, Kal had noticed his cousin Kara landing on the building next door. 'Am I interrupting?' She'd whispered low enough so only he could hear.

"Kara you mean? Power Woman?" Sharon asked.

"That's her." Kal smiled.

Sharon kissed him then. "Then I guess you'll probably want some time alone with her. So, I guess this is goodbye for now?"

"Suppose so. If... If you find her here, in Gotham-Metropolis, or even if you don't find her until you get to Beijing, China... If you want my help, just call... I'll be there if at all possible. I promise." Kal offered.

Sharon smiled at that. "I think I already knew that. And... you know; likewise. If you ever need me, just call."

"I think I already knew that too." Kal replied, giving her a warm hug, and getting up... "And I'm just realizing I have no clothes." He spoke.

"You do, actually. I asked the hotel concierge to buy some and bring them over while you were asleep, once I saw you'd changed back to being male again. They're right over there." She indicated the dresser by the far wall.

Kal smiled. "That was very thoughtful. Thank you." He offered softly.

"Just glad I could help." She replied, watching him get dressed with a warm smile and obvious appreciation of the view.

"How do you -pay- for all this by the way?" He asked curiously.

Sharon laughed a little. "Well, that was a problem. At first I was just using Jean's savings, but that only lasted a few months. I wasn't exactly watching my budget, you know... I was, I still am... pretty fanatic to get her back." She ended her though more softly and somberly, where she'd started off more warm and equanimous. "But," She rallied her mood. "I figured out pretty soon that it was very easy for someone like me to make money. Cities will pay lots of money for cheep electricity, and I can give them weeks worth at a time without it tiring me out much at all. Once I figured that out, lets just say it hasn't been a problem. My bank account's got somewhere around twenty million in it right now I think, if you're curious. You wouldn't believe how many private investigators I have on retainer."

Kal regarded her sympathetically. "Oh, I think I would..." He offered a little wistfully. "Jean's lucky she has you."

Sharon was silent at that, and Kal looked over to her. She just put on a brave smile. "Doesn't feel like she is a lot of the time." She admitted. "After all... If she'd never met me, this never would have happened to her."

He regarded her soberly. "If you follow that logic, then, without you, there might not have been anyone to stop Eclipso at all. Not to mention that business in New York, and whatever other good deeds you've done since then that I don't even know about. Everyone, not just Joan, would probably be in a lot worse shape right now if not for you. I mean, yes, obviously... it's... very horrible what Joan's going through..." He admitted softly, going over to kneel before her by the bed and take her hands in his. "But you should really be blaming Eclipso for that, not yourself. That kind of doubt and self-recrimination can lead to a lot of anger after all. And, as I understand it, that's how Eclipso gets to you." He ran a hand through her hair fondly. "So... it's important you don't believe those things about yourself. Because of that... and because they just aren't true. None of us are perfect--none of us are able to make perfect choices that have no downsides to them--even you. That's not something it's fair to blame anyone for, don't you think?" He asked.

She smiled gently and moved forward to kiss him. "In another life..." She spoke. "I think I really could have fallen helplessly in love with you. You know that?" She asked, meeting his eyes; a shared understanding passing between them.

He felt a little shy somehow at that, but it filled him with warmth too. He got up so he could lean on the bed with one knee and kissed her. A long, lingering kiss; to say goodbye. "In another life..." He echoed quietly. "In this one though... I guess this is where we say goodbye?"

"Guess so." She agreed with a soft smile.

"We can still be friends though, I hope?" He asked.

"Always." She smiled positively, ruffling his hair with affection.

He smiled back. "Sounds good to me." He replied, going to slip on the sandals she'd provided for him. He left then, turning to smile back to her at the door; their eyes meeting one last time before he left.

He paused outside of the door, leaning his back against the hallway, his heart beating fast in his chest. He closed his eyes a moment to center himself. As much as he could anyway. He felt a lot better for his time with Sharon, but not even that could fix all that was wrong with him; he knew that. He sighed and walked down the hall to the elevator, pressing the button for up instead of down.

This was a very high-end hotel, so, as it turned out, the roof was a park-like setting with an open-air restaurant. Kara was waiting for him when he came out. She had a glass of that mineral water she liked so much with her, and when she came over, she sat it down on the edge of a garden wall and they hugged. Kara cupping his cheek and looking into his eyes. "It's good to see -you- again." She offered.

He smiled, though he still felt more than a little unsure of himself. "It's good to be me again." He offered the reply he was sure she wanted to hear... Though he was really only about eighty percent sure it was true.

"So... what happened? From what I overheard, this Sharon of yours is the one who brought you back from what Artemiz did to you. But, I... I heard about what happened on the news. I was out of town for a few hours... I was tracking down a lead Helena and I found on Artemiz's people." She spoke.

"What did you find?" Kal asked softly.

"That these latest visits of theirs are hardly the first time they've been here. I met a couple--Kay and Scandal Savage. Apparently Kay fled Apokolips, faked her death, hundreds of years ago during a war between Apokolips and it's sister word, New Genesis." Kara explained.

"New Genesis?" Kal asked.

"As I understand it, where the gods and goddesses of Apokolips have been called gods of darkness and fire, those of New Genesis have been called gods of light and sky. In other words: Their opposites. The war all those years ago was put to rest by a treaty--sealed by an exchange. Maitresse, the ruler of Apokolips, gave her daughter, Cascade, to High Father of New Genesis, and High Father, in return, gave his son, Miracle, to Maitresse. Gilotina, of the SCU, a more recent runaway, told Helena that the switch has sense been reversed somehow, with Cascade and Miracle back to the worlds of their origin, but that, despite that, the treaty was still, ostensibly, in place--the last she's heard at any rate. That treaty, for reasons shrouded in legend, expressly forbids any from either world from coming here and interfering with us. Which is, by the way, a reason Kay and Tina came here for refuge. So... it sounds like, since Maitresse might be breaking this treaty of theirs, we might be able to appeal to the other side for help... The only thing is, according to both Tina and Kay... Doing that; it might lead to another war. One where Earth could become a battlefield."

Kal sighed. "And I suppose just burying our heads in the sand and hoping it goes away probably wouldn't be a good idea?" He offered, a big part of him actually wishing that was an option. "Call me a coward, but..." He spoke softly. "If I never see Artemiz again, it'll be too soon... Never said that about someone and really meant it before... not like I mean it this time."

Kara regarded him, her eyes conflicted. "Oh, Kal... I'm... I'm so sorry to have to tell you this, but that just might not be an option."

That got Kal's attention in a big way, and he felt himself tense in complete dread. "Tell me." He asked softly.

"I talked to Lois, or the Martian shape-shifter currently known as Lois, I suppose... And, what Lois did to her... To Artemiz, and her lover Lashina, to get them to leave... Artemiz has sworn terrible, bloody vengeance on her, and has made it known through her brother, Kanto, that she means to exact her revenge--first by killing, possibly torturing to death, anyone Lois cares about, then, I suppose, by eventually killing Lois too. And... since you're high up on the list of people Lois cares about and Artemiz knows that all too well..." Kara left the obvious implication unspoken.

Kal felt a helpless fury overtake him and his eyes hardened. "I have to go." He told softly. "Right now I feel like flying off into space; find Lobo or something."

"The alien bounty hunter you told me you had 'angry sex' with last year?" Kara exclaimed.

Kal just smiled a little at that. "I feel like hitting someone." He explained. "Lobo's the only guy I know that would actually like it." He wasn't -actually- going to go find Lobo though, or probably he wasn't anyway--for one thing he'd have no idea where to look even if he did want to, and for another... that was just not a can of worms it would be smart to open up again--no, mostly he just wanted to go off on his own somewhere for a little while to think and sort through his feelings. He needed time to process this.

Kara grabbed his arm as he was about to fly off. "If you want my advice... I think it would be a better idea to go talk to Lois."

Kal turned and met his cousin's eyes, intending to say a polite 'no'. But somehow, it didn't come out that way. "You know... maybe you're right..." He admitted.

Kara smiled softly to him and let him go. He gave her his best attempt at a smile in return and flew off.

He couldn't do anything about a lot of things in his life about now, but this... This he could do something about.

This, at least, he could be brave about.

\--- J'ANN ---

It was the next day after her talk with Kara; in the evening. J'ann had spent the previous night with Erica and spent the day doing her job as a reporter, having gotten together with Erica, Cat, Lori, and Joan for lunch. Erica had had pressing business today that she wasn't willing to cancel--a certain Ukrainian company that she was in the bidding to buy; she didn't trust anyone else to handle the negotiations. And, since the purchase was a key part of a plan she had to revitalize the region, curb environmental degradation, and lift a lot of people out of poverty, J'ann could hardly fault her for taking the risk. Now it was mid-afternoon and J'ann was back at Erica's place, and they were well into a session of love-making...

J'ann looked up into Erica's eyes through a haze of blissful pleasure. Their eyes locked and held as Erica's fingers inside her brought her to release. She cried out softly, her body arching once, twice, three times before she relaxed blissfully onto her back and hummed in pleasure. "You are so very good at that..." She spoke softly, catching her breath.

Erica had proposed doing this in J'ann's Martian form, but she hadn't wanted to. She... had become too used to being Lois. She didn't really want to be anyone else anymore... At least for now. For later... Honestly, she didn't really want to think about later.

Erica was kissing her then, and J'ann got completely caught up in it--touching her face, her hair--the way their bodies moved together... It wasn't the Martian way of doing this at all, but she'd come to treasure it more than she could really explain to herself. A part of her still wanted to ask Erica if she would like to bridge their minds and hearts while they made love... but, she still could barely read anything from Erica, except a flicker here or there, and a low level sort of background impression of her that she picked up on and was always there. Really, she hadn't even asked Erica if the block between them was voluntary on her part, or if it was just something in her nature that would always be there between them and she could do nothing about...

Truthfully, she was a little scared to find out. What would she do if it would be like this between them forever? What if they could never be intimate like that--ever? Could she really go through with marrying her if that were the case? ...She wanted to say yes of course, that it didn't matter in the face of how much they loved each other. That, as she'd discovered, intimacy was more than what could be explained rationally... Oh, she'd always believed that of course, but since becoming Lois--living as a human and not employing her telepathy while making love--she'd discovered more depths to that truth than she'd imagined could be there.

There was just something -there- between two beings when they made love--some connection that couldn't truly be denied but couldn't be explained or proven to exist either. Something you just had to believe--have faith in. Trust. That was what it came down to. Without telepathy, you had to trust with all your heart--trust that what your heart and soul were telling you was true.

Could she do that for Erica? Would it be enough?

As if in denial of the question's implications, she flipped Erica over onto her back and started to kiss her with all the fervor she had in her. One hand on her breast, the other traveling down between them, she thrilled at the small gasp Erica gave when she penetrated her with her fingers. She started to rock her in a steady rhythm, and when Erica's head titled back, her body arching, she took advantage of it to start kissing the curve of her neck with long-practiced skill.

Lois Lane had been nothing if not a consummate expert at this--perhaps even more so than she had at her job. Which was really saying something, because she'd had more than one Pulitzer under her belt and was widely acknowledged as one of the most respected names in journalism the world over. And that shouldn't have been surprising, because Lois had always taken just about every opportunity to hone her skills ever offered. She'd loved being with a woman in bed more than anything, and J'ann had very much come around to that way of thinking as well... Still, in her case, she cared less about gender and wanted a steady relationship in her life more than Lois had. Though, in truth, Lois had craved that too; much as she might not have wanted to admit it to herself.

J'ann stubbornly stopped herself from thinking about Lois though--it really, really wasn't the time. And thinking about her made her feel frustrated and sad at her continued absence and her inability to find her thus far. She was determined more than ever to find her though, because she knew herself well enough to know that it was going to keep bothering her thoughts like this for a very long time to come if she didn't. It would probably haunt her forever in fact, and she was already haunted enough--she didn't want any more ghosts at her back.

She only worried, that if her theory about Apokolips having her was true... If she were still alive... Then what had become of her? What had been -done- to her?

And again, she forced herself not to think about it, grinding her sex against Erica's thigh to drown out her thoughts as she again captured Erica's lips and felt her nearly ready for climax. J'ann closed her eyes and ground herself hard on her lover, increasing the pace of their rhythm until Erica came for her--crying out her release and arching her body beneath her as the climax rocked through her. Seeing Erica's pleasure was more than enough, and J'ann felt herself climax as well; crying out softly, then kissing Erica's skin intently as the waves of sensation went through her with high intensity.

She was breathing hard and kissing Erica, mouth to mouth again, Erica letting her have control, when finally Erica rolled them over onto their side and stopped their kiss, looking into her eyes. "...I will miss you terribly I think." She whispered.

J'ann smiled playfully. "Margot and Aliki not quite have your number in bed like I do? Aww."

Erica laughed and pushed her over on her back, looking down at her intently. "Although there may be some small truth to that, it wasn't what I meant to convey... No, I had another meaning... You've captured my heart, in a way no one has in a very long time... If it pleases you to lay with other lovers from time to time when we're apart, my own nature being what it is, I can hardly cast aspersions... but I want you for my wife. I want you to be mine... I want a chance at forever with you... Marry me?"

J'ann simply smiled and ran a hand gently though Erica's hair, looking deeply into her eyes. "No ring?" She asked with half-hearted humor.

Erica smiled back, always willing to spar a little. "You know I could buy you a bathtub full of them--if you wanted, you could bathe with them--but I didn't do that. Say yes anyway." She prompted with a daring smile and anticipation in her eyes--she expected a yes--though J'ann knew her well enough to see a hint of fear of 'no' in those eyes too.

J'ann smiled, utterly charmed. "Oh all right... Yes then."

Erica kissed her--hard, and J'ann found herself just melting from it.

She considered asking her then and there, about the mind block thing of hers, but thought that it would probably come off as her being unsure of wanting to marry her... which, that wouldn't be far from the truth, she supposed. That didn't mean she wanted Erica to know it. She figured it was probably best to just wait until this whole thing with Artemiz was over (assuming she even survived it--which was far from a certainty) and Erica was back from hiding. Right now just wasn't the time to be practical--not when they were saying goodbye, not when they could never see one another again, and -certainly- not right after she'd accepted a (very romantic) wedding proposal... Alright, so maybe it hadn't been traditionally romantic, as far as wedding proposals went, but to her it had been as perfect as she could imagine really. Further proof that Erica really did get her--really did have her number, in a way few others ever had.

It was almost -almost- enough to fully convince her that she could go without mind sharing. The truth was though, she still wasn't sure about it. And that bothered her more than she wanted to dwell on.

The fact that Erica had kissed her way down to her breasts by this point was proving to be a big help with the not dwelling part though.

An hour later, in fact, she'd positively lost track of that train of thought completely. Unfortunately, it all came back to her when Erica started to get up from bed and get dressed. J'ann sighed, but sat up and watched her--well, she supposed Erica was her fiance now, wasn't she?--She watched her fiance get dressed, kind of letting herself get lost in the very pleasant view.

That, and she decided she was really liking calling Erica her fiance in her head. She and Cat both had them now, didn't they? The plan was coming together. The four of them would get a place together... or maybe just move into Erica's place here? It certainly had the requisite pool. She just wasn't sure Cat would go for it; moving in here. Lori would probably approve though...

It still bothered her a little what Cat had said before. And maybe she did still have feelings for Clark. And she'd be nuts to deny that she was still in far too deep with the Lashina and Artemiz of it all. And maybe she shouldn't have said yes so readily if those things were as true as they probably were... but she had said yes, and she had no intention of taking it back.

After all--her stolen and persistently treacherous feelings for Lashina aside--Erica or Clark? How could she chose on anything close to merit when she was in love with them both? Better to just chose the least complicated option and go forward. At least this way, at least one big of the three big issues in her life was finally done with. Now if she could just find Lois alive and well and ditch the dark and fiery goddess drama, she'd be all set--peace of cake. Yeah right.

"When's Eve supposed to get here again?" J'ann asked. Truthfully, Martians had a very exacting sense of time, and all but perfect memory, so she already knew the answer down to the second--she'd mostly just said it to have something banal to say when she didn't want to say anything that mattered at the moment.

Erica glanced at the clock. "Five minutes or so."

Lois smiled. "You've known her a while--how punctual is she?"

Erica and J'ann's attention was caught by shadows coalescing in the air where they wouldn't naturally be. "Usually early, I'd say."

"Just my luck." J'ann replied softly.

Eve Eden, a.k.a. Nightshade, stepped through the shadow portal. "Hi, Erica. Hi, Lois." She greeted.

"Hi." J'ann waved to her with an amiable smile, resting her chin on her an arm that was resting on her knees.

"Thanks again for doing this." Erica offered.

Eve smiled to her. "Hey, we're friends, right? Least I could do." She looked to J'ann. "You sure you don't want me to help fight this nut case who's coming after you? My wife, June, would help too--I know she would."

J'ann smiled and shook her head. "You really don't know what you're offering... and besides, if you're there, Artemiz might guess where Erica is."

"But she couldn't--" Eve started to say.

"Oh, she could." J'ann interrupted. "Trust me; she could and then some. I can't stress enough how dangerous this woman is. She's a goddess--and honest to goodness goddess of darkness and fire with potentially enough power burning inside her to lay waste to a world I think. I don't want you anywhere -near- her. Either of you."

Erica smiled softly in sympathy.

J'ann sighed in resignation. "And anyway, this is my problem to deal with. Either I win or she does. Either way, I don't think this is going to be over until one of us is dead." She met Erica's eyes. "And don't worry too much. I'll do whatever I have to make sure I'm still alive for the wedding." She smiled a little crookedly. "That is, if you still want to get married after this is over?"

"I didn't ask lightly..." Erica spoke. "With all my heart--I meant it."

J'ann smiled happily. "Yeah... I know. I meant it too."

"Just as long as I'm invited to the wedding." Eve put in.

"Bet on it." J'ann smiled serenely.

"Until we meet again, then." Erica spoke.

"Until then." J'ann answered, watching as Erica and Eve disappeared into shadows and then the shadows themselves disappeared. For long moments after, her eyes stayed on the spot they'd been; then she closed them and sighed again, giving herself a moment, then getting up out of bed and changing shape to give herself the appearance of wearing clothes.

She shifted inside so that she was much more Martian than human, though she still looked like Lois Lane--Artemiz was going to attack, sooner or later, and she needed to be ready for it at a moment's notice. Besides, her ruse was probably a lost cause by this point anyway. And she was pretty sure Artemiz's people would be the ones who had the real Lois--by the end of this, she swore to herself, she was damn well going to prove it and get her back... Assuming of course, that she was still alive...

Before she left, she looked around the room, and then decided to use her telekinesis to do some cleaning and straightening up before she left. Erica had given the household staff time off; not wanting anyone to be there on the chance Artemiz came here on her or Erica's trail. It was a small gesture. But one that, to her, meant that she meant to be back; meant to survive this and marry Erica like she wanted. Besides that, Martians tended to crave order; in their living spaces especially. Lois wasn't nearly so tidy, and that had been the one trait of hers J'ann had, perhaps, found the most challenging to duplicate at times. Thank goodness Cat had moved in with her--Cat was a very tidy sort, so J'ann could blame her own increasing tidiness on trying to abide well with her roommate if anyone had asked.

With her mental powers, the task only took a minute or two, and then she left, turning the lights out as she went.

One elevator ride later, J'ann was exiting Erica's building onto the street. She'd been keeping mental tabs on him, so she'd known he was coming for the last minute and twenty-one seconds. She looked up, took a few steps forward, and he was landing right in front of her--Clark... Kal-El, really, she supposed; though in her head, she still thought of him as mostly just Clark.

She was surprised, and relieved, to see he was back to his old self again somehow. She'd have to ask him how he'd managed that little feat.

"Hi, you." She spoke softly, almost shyly, meeting his eyes. "Fancy meeting you here?"

He had to smile at that of course, damn it. She'd forgotten just how much she loved that smile of his. "What's next? 'What's a guy like you, doing landing on a street like this'?" He asked.

"Read my mind." She replied, unable to help but smiling too. Oh, and he had such a great sense of humor too. One more thing she'd conveniently forgot. Damn it.

"Listen, Lois..." He started.

"Yes?" She asked, not quite willing to go into the whole I'm marrying someone else so I have to break up with you even though I'm completely in love with you talk... Of course, when she did say that stuff, she planned to leave out the 'I'm completely in love with you' part. That would just be asking for trouble.

He was looking steadily into her eyes and saying a lot without even speaking. He looked a little at a loss for words, though, and apparently thought the best cure for that was to move forward and kissed her, taking her in his arms.

She'd be lying if she said it came as a surprise. She'd be lying too if she said she was at all upset about it. She kissed him back; not really able to help herself. This might be her last chance to, after all--she wasn't nearly as selfless as she'd need to be to say no to that.

"Cl- Kal, listen-" She started to say once the long kiss was over and their eyes met again.

"No, I need to say this." Clark spoke softly.

"...Alright..." J'ann agreed just as softly, if a little reluctantly. People were starting to gather and gawk a little by this point though, so, mentally, she reached out and made it so that the people around them on the street would forget who they really were and see and hear only a regular man and woman talking, not the famous 'Superman' talking to Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Lois Lane. Not strictly ethical, she supposed, but she really didn't want to be the subject of gossip about this; not about this... It would just hurt too much.

"...I love you. Lois; whatever your name is-"

"J'ann." J'ann put in. "But Lois is fine too."

"The point is that I want to be with you. I know what we went through... it changed things. We can't pretend it hasn't. But what we had... What we have--it's magic. Better than magic. I don't want to loose that." He spoke.

"...What if I do?" J'ann answered quietly.

Clark looked at her, shock and hurt apparent on his face. "...Why?" He asked softly.

Lois looked down, closed her eyes a moment, then met his heartfelt gaze again. "No good reason, really." She answered honestly. She cared about him, loved him, much too much to make up an answer he might like better but wouldn't be true. "It was between you and Erica, and there's no good way for me to choose. I guess, I just picked the least complicated option... I hurt you, Clark. Badly. Just by being near you. I didn't mean to, and it wasn't my fault, but it happened. It could happen again, whether we're together or not, just because we happened to be together when... what happened, happened. And, selfishly, I suppose a part of me might not want to feel guilty when I look into my lover's eyes... When you think about it, you're probably getting the better end of this."

He took a moment to answer. "...What if I don't see it that way?" He asked back.

She smiled a little at that, though it took effort because this was hurting her so much. "Then I'd say you were a smart man, and I'd say my luck's running good today. Too good, maybe. But still, here's hoping the trend continues. But Clark, it doesn't make any difference... I already said yes..." She explained.

"...Yes to what?" He asked, though she had the feeling he already knew the answer to that.

"To Erica, when she proposed to me a while ago." She answered, a few tears starting to fall.

Her moved forward and held her in his arms. "All right then..." He answered softly. "At... At least I tried."

He backed away and Lois could see the tears on his cheeks as well. "Oh, Clark..."

"Guess I'll see you around then." He smiled a little. "That is, unless... You're not quitting your job now that you found a rich wife, are you?" He asked, though she could tell he thought the chances of that were about right up there with a group of pigs who'd learned to speak French over the weekend suddenly sprouting wings and flying south for the winter next to a flock of Bulgarian speaking geese on his next birthday.

She laughed a little at that. "If that's what you think, then you really didn't know me at all." She answered with a little of a smile, more tears falling.

"That's what I thought." He replied. "Bye J'ann." He spoke, turning to leave.

"Clark, wait." She spoke.

"Yes?" He asked, looking back to her.

"Just... Can you go stay with your cousin for a while?" She asked. "Artemiz..."

"She swore vengeance, yeah. Kara told me. I'll try to stay safe. Promise." He turned away, lifting off into the sky.

She watched him go, then went invisible and followed after him.

He wasn't going to his cousin's place. She'd intruded on his thoughts enough to tell that much... He was going to see Bruce Wayne. Seeking comfort... Seeking a lover to take his mind of what she'd just done to him. It was a surprise; she hadn't known he'd been interested in anyone else besides her... though, of course, she couldn't reasonably fault him for having feelings for someone else besides her. And, from what she could tell, Clark's feelings had really only developed towards real attraction in the time since they'd been apart, so of course he hadn't had time to tell her she'd developed competition for his heart... Actually, if she thought about it logically, she should be relieved. She wasn't in a place to be that logical about it yet though of course.

In any case, she still had to follow him to keep him safe.

Erica was safe. Joan would cover Cat and Lori for her, and she was watching them too and could be there in seconds. So she was clear to play invisible bodyguard for Clark... Though she wasn't exactly looking forward to following him to that particular destination.

At all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


	12. Love, Longing, And Fury

PART 12: LOVE, LONGING, AND FURY

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- KAL ---

It was nearing the middle of the day, the weather was sunny and bright, with a fierce wind coming in from the coast a few miles away. Bruce was standing alone on a high balcony that was looking out over the city and to the ocean beyond. His hands were behind his back; his expression lost in thought.

And he wasn't wearing a shirt, just a pair of draw-string pants.

Kal stopped a moment; too high up, far away, and out of his field of vision for his friend to see him.

Was he really doing this? Anyone with common sense would tell him it was an awful damn idiotic thing to do. Going to see the a friend who you had a crush and recently broke a date with (okay, a -possible- date with) right after you got dumped by a woman you were actually still in love with, despite the fact that she'd just walked all over your heart. He couldn't even count the ways this could end badly.

On the other hand though, maybe it wouldn't end badly at all, right? Which, at this moment, seemed to be enough of a justification for him.

He flew over into Bruce's field of vision and floated down to him, taking it a little slow. He saw recognition in his friend's eyes right away. A little surprise, perhaps. Maybe a flash of something more; but whatever that something more was, he couldn't say for sure because it was quickly hidden behind that 'Batman' look he got. He came up to him and floated there just off the balcony.

"Back to your self, I see..." Bruce spoke.

Kal smiled a little. "I'm sorry I broke our date." He answered.

Bruce closed his eyes a moment and sighed a little, letting his hands fall to his sides. He opened his eyes and their eyes met again. "Is that what it was? A date?" He asked. It was all simple inquiry; no judgments and not much personal emotion or investment that Kal could determine.

"Honestly? I suppose it's what I would have liked for it to have been. Whether it would have been or not; naturally, that would have been up to you." Kal replied.

"I see." Bruce replied, turning his back and walking a few steps away.

Kal rose up and alighted back down on the balcony, brining a hand up to lay on his friend's shoulder. "Talk to me; please?" Kal asked.

Bruce turned back to look at him. Their eyes met and Kal was a little struck by the sudden intensity of those eyes--hard, searching, unforgiving, but starkly alive. "Tell me about the bar, then." He spoke. "The explosion."

Kal closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, turning away. "I was attacked."

"By whom? To what end?" Bruce asked.

Kal sighed. "I have no idea." He met Bruce's eyes. "I went dancing because I wanted to be around people. There was a woman... She got into my head somehow... It was... I couldn't do anything to stop her... It was like... she just... set me on fire. If Sharon hadn't been there... I don't know what..."

Bruce regarded him soberly. "When I first met you, I thought... I never would have imagined you of all people could be hurt like this. Twice, in such quick succession..." He shook his head. "It seems this is a far more dangerous world than even I'd concluded. To say that this is worrying..."

"Understatement; I know." Kal finished for him.

Bruce regarded him a moment. "It's not your fault, you know." He spoke, bringing his hand up to touch his face.

"Does it matter who's fault it is?" Kal asked. "People still died."

"They did. And that means you need to improve. Become stronger." Bruce told him. "...You know how my parents died. You know that's why I do... what I do. Or why I started anyway... I was a child then. I could do nothing. Now, I've stopped similar crimes any number of times. It's never enough, but, at the same time... each time I save a child, I treasure that moment... Someone like you--there's almost no limit to how much good you could do in this world. I've seen it for myself... I've seen the strength of your character. That, more than anything, is what can make that difference."

Kal smiled at that. "Did you think I'd give up on that? Is that it?" He asked softly.

Bruce moved forward and captured his lips in a kiss--forceful, but sweet and very heartfelt. Kal wrapped his arms around him and returned the kiss. "It would have broken my heart if you had." Bruce answered softly.

Kal smiled at that and kissed him back. "Does this mean I get another chance at that date?" He asked, once he'd returned the kiss thoroughly.

Bruce smiled in a sort of devil-may-care sort of way. "We'll see."

Kal kissed him again, and, by this point, he could definitely tell Bruce was interested and not just having him on; by the very noticeable bulge in his pants if by nothing else. Kal smiled as he moved to kissing Bruce's neck. "You know, we could move this inside?" Bruce offered.

"Later." Kal replied, lowering himself down to his knees before his friend--who was apparently also about to become his lover. "You don't have to worry about choking me, by the way. I don't actually have to breathe, after all."

"Kal..." Bruce started to say.

Kal untied and loosened the draw string of his pants and let them fall. Before him, Bruce's sex was long, full, and erect for him. "Yes?" Kal asked, stroking it softly with one hand and looking up at him.

"I... Never mind." He replied.

Kal smiled. "Thought so." He answered, moving forward and taking the tip into his mouth and working his tongue around it. Bruce sighed in a sensual sort of way and Kal took that as encouragement and started to take more of his sex into his mouth and began to suck him off.

Kal felt his own sex, hard and full, but he didn't touch himself; he concentrated on Bruce and making him feel good. He felt Bruce's hands in his hair and he went deeper, starting to pump him in a nice steady rhythm. He felt himself really start to glow too; his energy start to peak.

It didn't take very long and he heard Bruce gasp and felt him thrust himself down his throat; felt his cum shoot into is mouth--down his throat. Warm, with a heady taste that had him delighting in carefully sucking and licking his lover clean.

At last, he let Bruce's sex fall from his lips; he swallowed and stood. Their eyes met and Bruce kissed him. "Can we go into bed now?" Bruce asked softly.

"Whatever you say." Kal answered with a soft smile as she stood up before him.

"How do you get out of that thing, by the way?" He asked as he turned to lead Kal to his bedroom inside.

Kal smiled softly again at that and started to let himself glow brighter. His 'Superman' suit falling off of him as he walked through it, leaving him nude.

"...An angel..." Bruce spoke with soft reverence, having stopped in his tracks to stare at the sight.

"Kryptonian, actually; but thanks for the complement, all the same." He smiled, aware what affect he could have--he knew he was beautiful; and glowing like he could... well, he'd seen for himself in a mirror--it was quite a sight. Actually, in a way, he was a little self-conscious about it. Not that he wished to be other than he was; it was only that... he wasn't quite sure he felt inside as beautiful as he looked from the outside, so he kind of thought... maybe it was dishonest somehow?

Bruce swallowed. "Sorry, I... It's amazing... how beautiful you are..."

"You're not so bad yourself." Kal answered, caressing his cheek and kissing him again. And that was certainly true--Bruce was really quite something to look at too. More than a few scars here or there, but Kal kind of liked how they looked somehow--they added to his mystique and air of danger.

"...So, you can go intangible as well?" Bruce asked after the kiss was ended.

"...Only since Sharon healed me. I don't know why..." He explained.

"This Sharon; Sharon Vance--Strange Visitor. With her power levels... I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, anything she does..." Bruce spoke, suddenly serious. "She's probably made more of a name for herself than that cousin of yours of late, you know... Some people are calling her a messiah. I don't know if you're aware, but there are even a few churches cropping up centered around her. It almost seems she can do no wrong. Even G. Gordon Godfrey likes her, and that's no small trick for someone like us. I know you've had a past with her..."

"She's a friend. A good friend. Believe me, she deserves what they're saying about her." Kal answered.

"I'm not saying she doesn't..." Bruce replied in a subdued tone.

"Is this about me?" Kal asked gently. "Has... Did what happen at the club lose me your trust?"

Bruce met his eyes. "It's not a mater of trust. All... All I have to do is look into your eyes, and somehow I can't help but trust in you... Maybe even believe in you, to some extent. It's just... what would have happened? If Strange Visitor hadn't been there? How many more would have died?"

Kal was silent a moment. "...I don't know. Kara would have some idea, I'm sure..."

"And that's my point. Kal... what would you say if I offered to train you?" Bruce asked.

"...How?" Kal asked softly.

"In mental discipline, for one thing. Tactics, strategy, fighting styles as well. You have a lot of power... and so much potential to be a positive force in the world. But, as recent events have shown, you're far from invulnerable. You've been raped, at least partially brainwashed... and turned into a weapon to murder seventy-nine people against your will, with yet more seriously injured--some only barely still clinging to life. Obviously there are beings in this world more powerful than either of us--but if you were properly trained..." Bruce let the thought hang between them.

"Aren't you worried that it would only make me more of a threat, what you're proposing?" Kal had to ask.

Bruce closed his eyes. "Like I said--I trust you. And besides, if it's down to a choice between someone who genuinely wants to be a force for good in the world having that kind of power, and beings who clearly have very little regard for life and very little compunction against using others in revolting ways for their own ends... If you were in my position, what choice would you make?" He asked.

"I'd offer to train me too, I suppose." Kal admitted.

"Then, you accept my offer?" Bruce pressed.

"I do." Kal answered; the weight of his answer feeling heavy on his shoulders.

"Good..." Bruce answered, moving forwards and caressing his face with one hand, looking deeply into his eyes, and kissing him again.

Kal felt his body and heart immediately respond.

"Of course... we don't have to start right this minute, I suppose." Bruce offered with a little of a smile.

"Whatever you say." Kal repeated himself, moving in to kiss him; then, after an enjoyable while of that, smoothly scoop him up into his arms and start to carry him inside.

"I don't suppose there'd be any use asking you to put me down?" Bruce asked wryly.

"Oh, sure there would. I somehow don't think you're going to though." He countered happily.

"...Your cousin hears nothing." Bruce spoke, in a tone that brooked no argument.

"My lips are sealed." Kal promised, tilting his passenger's head up to kiss him again as they walked.

Bruce brought a hand up to his neck as he returned the kiss.

"I'm trusting you..." Bruce spoke.

Kal smiled at that. "Just not -too- much, I hope." And he tossed him unceremoniously on the bed, causing a startled sort of squawk in Bruce.

Kal hopped up on the bed right after him and was on top of him and kissing him again before he could get a world out.

Bruce did one of those ninja type moves and Kal soon found their positions reversed though. "I'll remember that..." Bruce spoke, his eyes intense. "...This is safe, isn't it? Us... like this?" He asked softly.

"You mean will I crush you if I hold you too tightly by accident?" Kal asked back.

"I know what you said during our basketball game. But, you have to admit... this is a little more of--"

Kal put two fingers against Bruce's lips to forestall him. He smiled. "It's not an issue. Like I said; it's automatic for me--not something I have to try at or keep focus for. I've been with baseline humans before this way. There was never even the whisper of a hint of anything amiss... The only thing I've ever had to consciously keep a lid on is how I glow..."

"So, you've been with some who didn't know you for who you really were then?" Bruce asked.

"...Only once... and that didn't end very well..." Kal spoke with soft emotion of Lois, very much hoping Bruce wouldn't pursue the subject.

"It sounds like there's a story there." Bruce pointed out, causing Kal to wince a little internally.

"...Nothing I want to talk about at this particular moment." He replied with a forced easy-going smile, finding Bruce's tendency to veer into heavier subjects while they were getting romantic to be just a bit exasperating... but in an endearing sort of way, none the less.

"...Whatever you say..." Bruce replied, moving down to kiss him in an almost possessive sort of way; which Kal found he very much liked.

Bruce's hand went down between them to start to stroke Kal's sex as they kissed, and Kal felt his body respond, arch, come fully alive. They continued to kiss as they explored one another's bodies with roaming hands; in no particular hurry.

Bruce's sex was sliding against his skin between them, and he could feel the wetness from it--from his own on Bruce's hand as well. He focused on kissing him though, and just let his light surround them and his climax build as it would.

"So beautiful; my angel..." Bruce spoke to him and, at the sound of his voice, Kal gasped and felt his orgasm light up his body even more. He felt Bruce then somehow too; some sense of him he couldn't explain. Not emotions or thoughts, more just some essential knowing... a bedrock acknowledgment of the connection they were forging. He'd felt it before when he made love--usually felt it--and he sometimes wondered if it was a Krytonian thing, or something everyone experienced when they made love. He'd asked some of his lovers, and they said they felt something like that too, but since there was no way to compare experiences such as that, her really didn't know. He very much hoped it was the same. The same for Bruce; the same for everyone. That it was something everyone had in common, tying them together, no matter what world they were from.

Whether that was or wasn't the case though, and whether he was moving too fast with Bruce (which he was actually worried about), he did know he'd really needed this. His eyes were open, but he didn't really see what they saw--and when Bruce started to kiss him again, gentle but hungry, they fluttered closed and he let himself get lost in that kiss--lost in the lover he'd found in this man who'd started out as only a friend.

Before he could really catch his breath though, he felt Bruce's hand on him again--felt his sex get hard again from it. "Turn about, as they say, is fair play." Bruce spoke softly into his ear, getting up and turning about, moving to go down on him.

"I'll say." Kal answered, more to himself than to Bruce, as he felt Bruce's lips close over his sex and start to suck.

\--- J'ANN ---

She didn't want to eavesdrop on them--knew it was morally wrong to do so, no matter if she looked at it from a Martian or human perspective, but somehow she couldn't make herself stop. Not until Bruce had said "So beautiful; my angel..." Had she finally wrestled her self-control firmly into place and barred herself from listening in any further.

"This is truly a miserable state of affairs you've gotten yourself into, Lane... Face it--this is wreaking you, more than just a little." She muttered to herself. "Fuck, I miss Erica right now." Even though her fiance had only been gone a little while. She reminded herself again that she'd faced an impossible choice, and had just had to make a call and live with it. Well, if this was living with it, she hated it worse than she'd thought she would... Of course, when she'd made the decision, that she'd have to sit where she was and listen to Clark making love with someone else right after the fact wasn't something she'd considered--though maybe she should have. It wasn't as if she could at all blame Clark for it of course, though a part of her wished she could. Mostly though, she just cursed herself for being dumb enough to fall in love with two people at the same time. Three people, really... Though she hadn't really had a better choice about the third one.

She sighed and looked out over the ocean. She was a few miles away from Bruce Wayne's mansion--close enough that she could get there in a second or two if she needed to. Maybe she should have chosen a place a bit closer, sure, but she'd wanted the view. Lori had taken her, Cat, and Tana (the woman she'd been dating at the time) out to the cliffs a ways down the coast a while ago, and she'd loved the view--gone back a few times after by herself just to sit and think.

It was so unlike her home world. Even before the fire plague, Mars had never been nearly so rich as Earth was in water. No oceans of nearly this size. It was still amazing to her to look at. And the sound it made... On Mars, she'd looked out at the sand deserts like this sometimes... The two things were, in many ways, as opposite as could be, but somehow, J'ann had realized, in a way that was very important, they had something essential in common...

She sat down on the cliffs and just stared. After a while, she just closed her eyes and listened. She was still keeping mental tabs on Clark of course, but only enough to make sure he was safe, not anymore. She couldn't block out everything that way, she could still sense the broad strokes, but the ocean's song helped.

She spent more than an hour like that, and thankfully Bruce had finally gotten tired and needed a real break. He was getting them tea right now. J'ann smiled to herself, oddly happy. "At least he has someone who makes him happy..." She spoke softly to herself. That took a good deal of the sting out of it, she realized, now that she'd had some time to process it at least.

Not that she wasn't still jealous in part--of course she was--but her feelings were changing, and she could imagine that one day she could feel towards Clark and Bruce (if they ended up staying together) like she felt about Cat and Lori. One day at least. Not today. Maybe not for a long time. But someday, she thought, she would get to that point about it. It was a comforting thought.

As she was thinking it though, she felt a shift in the air... a minuscule rumbling in the low auditory ranges that she recognized instantly. She was in the air and giving the phenomenon a wider berth when she heard and saw it--"BBBOOOOMMMM!!!"

She sent a mental call out to Kara to come for Clark right away and get him away from here, then braced herself to fight or run; her eyes crackling with fire. When she saw Lasha step through though, she couldn't help but relax her guard.

Lasha's face bloomed into a wide grin and she flew up to her, J'ann meeting her part way, and they sort of crashed into one another. Kissing with hunger and fierce passion--hands grasping and clawing at one another--bodies pressed close--J'ann could feel Lasha's energy buffeting her in almost brutal waves, but it only excited her--made her want this woman more. She surged forward and crashed them to the ground, creating a shockwave and causing the cliff side to crumble and shake.

Luckily, this part of the coast was largely barren and remote--no one was near enough to be hurt by their... exuberance. They wrestled and clawed at each other for dominance and eventually, J'ann let Lasha have it.

J'ann had known that this could happen--of course she'd known--and she was somehow absurdly glad it had--now of all times. For one thing, it meant she had another ally; for another...

She'd been deliberately burying this part of her--the part of her that was born of Artemiz and Lashina--the part that loved the woman who was currently ravishing her with a fire that would never die. Partly because she was a little scared of it. Partly because it was so much to process and actually potentially dangerous for her in a way. Party because she thought that Artemiz could well have found a way to reverse what she'd done to Lashina--a way to win her back from her--and the next time she saw Lashina, it would be as an enemy and not a lover. And, perhaps mostly, because if she'd let herself think of this--let that part of her integrate more fully into her thought-structure--that being apart from this woman would have simply hurt too much--would have driven her mad and made her seek a way to get to Apokolips and to her, no matter how suicidal that probably would be for her.

But now that she was here... It was so overwhelming, in such a good way. It felt like none of the rest of it mattered... Not even what she felt for Erica or Clark. She felt the fire inside her and it was hungry and felt as though, now that it was truly lit, it would never die away again.

She cried out in ecstasy as Lashina's hand pleasured her--her energy pulsing through her in waves of such crashing force that it was all J'ann could do to withstand them. Somehow though, she didn't fear them--she thrilled at them--lusted for them. She bit Lashina then on the neck below her ear and clawed at her, wrestling her over and sending waves of telekinetic fire through her; her eyes burning as she poured beams of fire at her lover at full intensity--enough power to level buildings and it only made Lashina laugh in delight and kiss her all the harder.

Their energies combusted in an explosion and the cliff side crumbled and tumbled them down to the ocean--the world was a jumble of chaos and fire and rock and they both laughed and started to kiss again as they tumbled to the water and continued to make love, even as the water boiled and the earth shook around them. She felt herself just start to burn so hot--it shouldn't be possible; the fire should be hurting her, killing her, but it wasn't--it was feeding her! Feeding her passion; feeding the life in her!

They burned down into the earth; molten rock covering them in a bed of lava, and J'ann felt herself just losing control--imprinting fully with Lashina and offering herself with little reservation; only making sure to keep a tight hold on the link between them--to strengthen it and cement her hold on her, even though it was a lie. It was selfish, yes, but necessary--both because she couldn't afford to have Lashina as her enemy again, and because she couldn't stand the thought of not having her as a lover as they were now. And the horrible thing was, she didn't feel guilty about it; only upset that it was necessary and that Lashina wasn't hers too in even this one way. Still, she didn't falter; she burned forward. She lost her form and was all fluid shapes--all passion and want--even raw need to be with this woman fully, as her true self; as a Martian. And Lashina met it, burned at it, bright and so fierce--she lost her form too, and was all fire and light--the raging chorus of impossible power and presence that was her truth as a goddess of Apokolips.

Mater and energy crashed, thought and passion danced as they became a storm together--raging only towards one another, building and building, each experience brighter and more pleasurable than the last. The only thing was, it was getting to be too much--Lashina was just too much for this world--primal, wild--the scale of her... At her true size, she was a giant--taller than a mountain. The BOOM tubes were what... bottled her up--limited her--into something that looked and felt smaller than she was. But what they were doing--what J'ann was doing--by making love with her like this, was tearing that facade away. What they were doing--they could scar this world--burn it's atmosphere--even tear the planet itself apart if they kept going. And she wanted to keep going--they could spare the Earth by blazing up into empty space to bring their consummation to it's full resolution, but she was already seeing too many breaks between them--too many cracks in the illusion. An illusion, yes, but an illusion that was real--because that was the only kind that would hold sway over a goddess. Their love had to be achingly, soul-tearingly real for it to hold. And it was. If the truth behind that truth were discovered though, Lasha would either not care and accept her as a mate anyway, or her wrath at the betrayal would consume her and it would end in a battle to the death between them. And, by this point, J'ann didn't think she would be able to bring herself to kill this woman--even if it meant her own death... So it would be no small risk. A risk she probably would have taken, if it were only her own life... But this wasn't just about her--it was about Cat, Lori, Erica, Clark, Margot, Aliki, Kara, Helena, Lucy, Lois's dad, Perry, Ron, Heather, Miko, Steve, everyone at the Planet--everyone she knew could die horribly because of Artemiz--and if it was Artemiz and Lasha together again? Even Joan wouldn't stand a very good chance. She couldn't take the risk.

So, reluctantly, she crashed into one final orgasmic convergence between them and snapped them both back to physicality with brutal force, tackling Lashina to the ground through the lava they were immersed in. Lasha only laughed and kissed her and rolled her over so she was on top. "Done already?" She asked playfully. "I know you have more stamina than that!" She teased. Even in molten lava, Lasha could speak as easily as if it were air.

"Oh, I do..." J'ann replied hungrily, somehow having found a way to speak in return. "I really, really do." She smiled, touching Lasha's face fondly. "But you know she'll be after us soon. We can't be too... distracted... when she comes."

Lasha sighed. "Whatever." She spoke as if it made no difference to her at all. "Just gives me another reason to kill the deceitful witch, I suppose." She stretched, cat-like and sensual, as if re-accustoming herself to the body she was in, then sat up and straddled her, arching her back in another stretch and giving J'ann a delicious view of her chest.

J'ann swallowed and sat up so that Lasha was in her lap. They kissed again, and kept kissing for a while; the white hot lava they were in cooling fractionally now that they'd stopped burning like they'd been. J'ann surged them up through the lava and rocks and water so they flew up into the air; Lashina still in her arms. Lashina's eyes and smile showed her building excitement--she kissed her again--hard--and then twisted them around in mid air and launched them at the rubble of the cliff side--they hit ground hard enough to make the earth shake and tremble with the shock wave of it. Lasha pleasured her with her hand while grinding herself on her thigh and they poured energy into one another in battering waves until they climaxed again.

When Lasha stopped kissing her at last and stared down at her like a victorious predator and a satisfied lover, J'ann couldn't help but break out into a wide, joyful smile and sigh in contentment. "Have I told you how much I missed you yet?" She asked, realizing how true that was actually. No wonder she hadn't been as enthusiastic as she thought she should have been at Erica's proposal. She'd tried to deny it, to turn it off, but what she'd done to herself wasn't something she could deny anymore--not with Lashina here and real and loving her like a growing part of her longed to be loved.

"Better... You showed me." Lasha answered softly, moving down to kiss her in a sensual, almost reverent way. "You show me still..." She whispered in her ear.

J'ann rolled her over onto her back and they kissed and touched and snuggled in softer ways; letting their bodies and energies simply commune and delight in their shared love for one another. J'ann thought of Erica then, and Margot and Aliki too, but she hoped it wouldn't be a problem. She knew it wouldn't be for Lashina--in fact, Lasha would expect her to have other lovers. It was the way of goddesses on Apokolips to have harems, that was very vivid in Lasha's mind. As long as Lasha was first in her heart, or at least shared that station equally with another whom she approved of, she would readily accept of it. The only issue might be Erica, and weather she would accept? In any case, that was an issue for another day. Erica and she would be apart until Artemiz was dealt with.

When, finally, hours later, as J'ann could hear helicopters and police cars heading their way from the city, they began to cease and Lasha got up and offered her a hand up, kissing her, and asking "What now?"

It was well past three AM, and J'ann replied. "Now, we go have some fun. Come see the city with me?" She asked, looking around and seeing the destruction they'd caused... They were out in the middle of nowhere, or as close as you could get to it this close to the biggest city on Earth, but still... No wonder the police were on their way--SCU was probably inbound with them! --Sorry Maggie; me and my new wanted criminal/dark goddess of a girlfriend got a little carried away. Any chance you'd consider looking the other way? For old times sake?-- Nope; just wouldn't work, would it.

Lasha smiled and took her in her arms and spun her around. "Show me!" She asked, setting her down and kissing her once more for good measure.

J'ann smiled a little dazedly with a happy smile on her lips as she took Lasha's hand and took off into the night sky, heading for the city. --Sorry Maggie, it's better this way.-- She thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(to be continued)


End file.
